The Santen EMEA team expresses their ‘Hope in Sight’ for World Sight Day 2020
Santen EMEA is proud to support World Sight Day (WSD) 2020, an annual initiative led by the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IABP), which aims to raise awareness of the causes of avoidable vision impairment and blindness.
At least 2.2 billion people are living with vision impairment, of which approximately 1 billion have a condition that requires treatment or could have been prevented.1 In addition, vast geographical inequities exist, for example, the prevalence of distance vision impairment is four times higher in many low and middle income regions around the world than in high income regions.2 That’s why this year’s WSD theme is ‘Hope in Sight’. The theme is a pledge to educate and encourage people around the world, particularly those most at risk, to have an eye examination as the first step towards preventing blindness.
As a pharmaceutical company, specialising in ophthalmology and with a proud heritage of 130 years, Santen marks WSD 2020 with hope for the future of ophthalmology. We remain committed to our mission to preserve the precious sense of sight and to eliminate avoidable sight loss. By exploring the latest technology and therapeutic advances, including gene therapy and artificial intelligence, we hope to better respond to the eye health needs of people from all generations across the world.
References
- World Health Organisation. World report on vision (2019). Available from: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/world-report-on-vision Last accessed: October 2020
- World Health Organisation. Blindness and vision impairment (2019). Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/blindness-and-visual-impairment Last accessed: October 2020
