Calls for faster diagnosis dominated the campaign, which ran from 12 to 18 March.
The World Glaucoma Association (WGA) launched a global push for awareness, urging people to get tested. Countries from India to Argentina, Australia to Venezuela and Belgium to Kosovo took part. Events included mass screening days, lectures on the latest treatments and poems published on social media.
WGA president Neeru Gupta warned: “The prompt diagnosis and treatment of glaucoma can prevent needless vision impairment, however, so many are unaware they have the disease or may not have access to much-needed care. As the numbers are expected to increase exponentially, it is a growing public health concern.”
The condition is the leading cause of preventable and irreversible blindness worldwide. An estimated 78m people are diagnosed with glaucoma but numbers are predicted to rocket to over 111m by 2040. One in 200 people aged 40 has the disease, rising to one in eight 80-year-olds.
The campaign aims to spread the message beyond glaucoma patients. Family members have a one in four risk of developing the condition, ten times the background risk.
The 2023 week concentrated on empowering patients to address questions and concerns about glaucoma, providing guidance and helping to minimize vision loss during the pandemic.
Ivan Goldberg, co-founder of World Glaucoma Week, said, “To be effective, community awareness projects need to be relevant. That means they need to be based locally and rely on individuals in each place to be involved actively, adopting the unifying global message into local culture.”
Find out more and download a toolkit at World Glaucoma Week or search #glaucomaweek
Topic: الأخبار البصرية
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