Over 285 million people around the world suffer from visual impairment, and over 80% of their suffering is easily avoidable. Lenstore have released an infographic to coincide with the start of National Eye Health Week on 16th September.  With World Sight Day also on October 10th, Lenstore has been researching the prevalence of avoidable blindness and vision impairment around the world, and looking at the people most affected. To generate awareness of their findings, they have created an infographic on the state of the world’s eyesight.

According to the Vision2020 report, it is a little known fact that 90% of visually impaired people live in low- and middle-income countries, over two-thirds are women, and 65% are over 50. This is primarily because they lack access to optical help, with some countries having less than 1 Ophthalmologist per million people. The lack of access to eye care services is leading to blindness, caused by avoidable or curable conditions. For example, although cataract can be cured with a 15 minute operation and £28, it is still the leading cause of blindness in developing countries. In contrast, the biggest cause of blindness in high-income countries is Age-Related Macular Degeneration, for which no cure exists.

 The infographic presents the main causes of visual impairment around the world whilst promoting the aims of Vision 2020, showing how much additional investment is required to eliminate avoidable blindness around the globe by 2020.

source: PRWeb