The Friends Helping Club, Brahmapur, observed the World Sight Day here on Thursday to create awareness among denizens to protect eyes.
The members of the club brought out a rally from Girija junction to Sneham premises. A large number of doctors, healthcare professionals, intellectuals and social activists joined the campaign.
The club also provided free eye screening and testing at Sneham premises to mark the event, said K Purushottam Kumar Subudhi and ET Rao. The members also displayed banner “Pledge to prioritise your eyes and Pledge to love your eyes.”
The speakers on the occasion said 2.2 billion people – a quarter of the world’s population – have a visual impairment. And, nearly half of this visual impairment could have been prevented or could still be avoided if preventive measures were taken.
According to some studies, without urgent and sustainable efforts, the number of people who are blind could reach 115 million by 2050, they cautioned.