World Sight Day this year falls on 9 October. It is an annual international event celebrated on the second Thursday of October to raise the public’s awareness of avoidable blindness...

Visual impairment is a significant health problem worldwide. The World Health Organization estimates that globally about 285 million people are visually impaired, of whom 39 million are blind. It has...

18 April 2012 – Avoidable blindness is a major health problem in Somalia. The estimated blindness prevalence rate is 1.2%, and more than 100 000 people are blind. Cataract remains...

Afghanistan's Ministry of Public Health, in conjunction with the World Health Organization, has opened 10 temporary eye clinics across the country to enable cataract operations to be performed.    Funded by a US$ 90 000 donation from the Kuwait Patients' Helping Fund Society, the plan is to carry out 2000 cataract surgeries by the end of the year.  "Visual impairment is treatable but poor people cannot afford it," Peter Graaff, WHO's Representative in...

The WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, in collaboration with the Supreme Council for Health, Qatar, organized a regional workshop on strengthening and integrating the ear and hearing care programme within...

The WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean organized a regional workshop on integrating and strengthening ear and hearing care within primary health care, from 20 to 21 December 2011...