VISION 2020
The Right to Sight
The Need
There are 37 million blind people and over 124 million with low vision, comprising a total of over 161 million people with visual impairment in our world today. Every 5 seconds one person in the world goes blind, and a child goes blind every minute. 75% of all blindness is avoidable, either preventable or treatable. 90% of all avoidable blindness occurs in the developing countries. According to estimates, most blind people live in India: 9 million. 7 million live in Africa and 6 million in China.
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- VISION 2020 logo.
The Initiative
VISION 2020: The Right to Sight is a global initiative which aims to help eliminate avoidable blindness by the year 2020. The main current priorities for eliminating avoidable blindness are
Other potentially preventable and/or treatable causes of visual loss such as diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma can be included, on a country by country basis, as determined by the local situation.
Over the next two decades, VISION 2020 will take steps to prevent an estimated 100 million people from becoming blind.
- cataract (an eye disease of ageing), causing nearly 50% of global blindness,
- eye infections (trachoma and onchocerciasis), visual loss in children (xerophthalmia), causing approximately 10% of blindness worldwide,
- refractive errors and low vision.
Other potentially preventable and/or treatable causes of visual loss such as diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma can be included, on a country by country basis, as determined by the local situation.
Over the next two decades, VISION 2020 will take steps to prevent an estimated 100 million people from becoming blind.
The Partners
In 1999 VISION 2020 was jointly launched by the World Health Organization and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) together with more than 20 international non-governmental organisations involved in medical eye care and prevention of blindness. IAPB represents eye-care personnel - ophthalmologists, ophthalmic assistants, nurses and optometrists, international and national Non-Governmental Development Organisations (NGDO), and Ministries of Health.
Links to Partner Websites
Links to Partner Websites
The Programme
VISION 2020 - The Right to Sight is a worldwide concerted effort to eliminate avoidable blindness by the year 2020.
VISION 2020 concentrates on:
CBM and VISION 2020
VISION 2020 concentrates on:
- Increase awareness of blindness as a major public health issue
- Control of the major causes of blindness with cost-effective interventions
- Training of eye care personnel to provide good quality eye care
- Development of infrastructure for eye care services
CBM and VISION 2020
Download brochures on VISION 2020 and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
The brochure "CBM - Update on the current status of VISION 2020" provides more detailed information on CBM's contribution to VISION 2020.
The impact of VISION 2020 on the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is explained in the brochure produced by IAPB and VISION 2020: "Blindness, Poverty and Development", which quotes from studies, some of which were conducted by Professor Allen Foster, CBM President at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
The International Disability and Development Consortium, IDDC, of which CBM is a member, relates the eight MDGs to disability in a concise one-pager "MDGs and Disabilitiy - IDDC", which is also available for download below.
The impact of VISION 2020 on the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is explained in the brochure produced by IAPB and VISION 2020: "Blindness, Poverty and Development", which quotes from studies, some of which were conducted by Professor Allen Foster, CBM President at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
The International Disability and Development Consortium, IDDC, of which CBM is a member, relates the eight MDGs to disability in a concise one-pager "MDGs and Disabilitiy - IDDC", which is also available for download below.
