October is World Blindness Awareness Month

Every October, World Blindness Awareness Month shines a spotlight on the blind and visually impaired community, highlighting the realities of living without sight. The goal of this global movement is to raise awareness about the causes and prevention of blindness and other forms of visual impairment and to promote the rights of people with visual impairments.

Globally, more than 2.2 billion people suffer from some form of visual impairment. Two prominent blindness outreach organizations — The National Federation of the Blind and The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness — provide numerous valuable resources for individuals and their families who face the daily challenges of severe visual impairment and total blindness.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “everyone, if they live long enough, will experience at least one eye disease or disorder in their lifetime.” Therefore, it’s essential to be informed about your eyes and how to care for and protect them.

How to Protect and Improve Your Eye Health

Lack of eye care can lead to various eye diseases, many of which are preventable through taking various measures including:

• Routine Eye Exams: It’s important to see an ophthalmologist, or eye doctor, at least once a year for a standard eye exam, even if you do not show signs of declining vision.
• Healthy and Balanced Lifestyle: Eating fruits and vegetables and maintaining regular exercise and sleep will improve your overall health. According to the Mayo Clinic, these are the best foods to support eye health:
  • Vegetables: Kale, collard greens, peppers, broccoli, sweet potato, spinach, peas, pumpkin, carrots and Swiss chard
  • Fruits: Peaches, blueberries, oranges, tangerines, mango, tomato, apricot, papaya, cantaloupe, honeydew, avocado and grapefruit
  • Sources of zinc: King crab, lamb, bulgur, lean beef, fortified breakfast cereals, beans, lean pork, dark meat of poultry, whole-wheat or buckwheat flours, pumpkin seeds
  • Omega-3-rich foods: Salmon, herring, tuna, mackerel, rainbow trout, sardines, flaxseed, English walnuts, canola oil, roasted soybeans
• Use Sunglasses: The sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays can be detrimental to eye health and cause preventable eye diseases, such as cataracts.
• Quit Smoking and Vaping: Nicotine consumption has negative impacts on overall health and increases the risk of eye diseases, including age-related macular degeneration, cataracts, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, and Dry Eye Syndrome. Smokers are 3 – 4 times more likely to develop AMD than non-smokers. Contact your doctor or pharmacist about ways you can quit smoking now.

Ways to Honor World Blindness Month

The month of October is all about amplifying the voices, needs, and rights of the blind and visually impaired from around the globe. While most of the world’s population has access to basic health services, millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa do not, and many will never see a doctor in their life.

Embrace Relief is bridging the gap for some of the world’s most under-resourced countries in Africa, including Mali, Burkina Faso, Uganda, and Kenya, by providing free cataract surgeries, glaucoma operations, and eye examinations. These efforts are made possible through the Embrace Relief Mobile Health Clinics, which travel to some of the world’s most remote communities, and partnerships with local and regional governments and NGOs.

Here are a few ways you can honor World Blindness Month:

• Give the gift of sight by sponsoring a cataract surgery for $100.
• Provide a full eye examination and health check for $3.
• Start your own fundraising campaign with a custom page and fundraising materials provided by Embrace Relief. Contact [email protected] or visit here to start your project.
• Share information on social media from the National Eye Institute to raise awareness about blindness and eye health

Since 2013, Embrace Relief’s Mobile Health Clinics and supported partner clinics have completed over 40,200+ cataract surgeries and 600,000+ comprehensive checkups. Help us continue to make life-changing impacts for people in need. Donate today!