This year, World Sight Day is observed on 11 October 2012 by organizations and institutions around the world. There is no global theme for the Day this year allowing participating organizations to use the occasion to highlight their own priority areas. In Egypt, organizations will be focusing on the major causes of blindness – cataract, glaucoma, refractive errors, trachoma and diabetic retinopathy. There are about 900 000 blind people in Egypt, and yet 80% of all visual impairment is preventable or can be cured.

Avoidable blindness and visual impairment are global health problems which have significant economic dimensions. Globally, 285 million people are visually impaired, of whom 39 million are blind. The global economy loses tens of billions of dollars annually as a result of blindness and visual impairment, which affects the whole of society. In the Eastern Mediterranean Region, over 23 million people live with visual impairment, of whom 5 million are blind.