The Prefect for the Dicastery for Integral Human Development Services, His Eminence, Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson has issued a Message on the occasion of the XXX World Sight Day, which will be observed tomorrow.
The celebration of the XXX World Sight Day, organized by the World Health Organization, the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness and the World Union of the Blind, which will be observed on 12 October 2017, is for me an occasion to send a fraternal and cordial greeting to all those throughout the world who are committed to fighting against blindness.
It is estimated that ocular diseases are responsible for 39 million non-sighted people and 246 million people with deficient sight: this second number doubles if we take into consideration those who are challenged solely because of a lack of access to corrective lenses. We cannot remain indifferent to problems related to vision: 4 out of 5 cases of blindness are preventable or curable, 90% of people with reduced vision are found in poor countries in Southern countries throughout the world, where one child in two dies within one year of becoming blind (cf World Health Organization, Global Data on Visual Impairment, 2010).
Today, thank to developments in medicine, blindness and reduced vision can be considered as infectious diseases: with adequate care and timely care, they become preventable or curable in large part. The origin of the action - says Bonhoeffer - is not thought, but the availability of responsibility. Here is the deepest sense of the World Vision Day: the themes Universal Eye Health and Make vision count are aimed at awakening public consciousness, emphasizing the necessity for quality ocular care for everyone, and understanding the importance of sight.
Yes, the ability to see well is sometimes a promise of being able to live. The life of someone who is blind or sight challenged, especially when combined with conditions of poverty, can lead to marginalization and put life itself at risk. We must address the factors that most affect the causes of blindness and visual impairment, among which is the lack of qualified professionals, the difficulty of accessing appropriate care, and climate change which interferes negatively with planetary ecosystems, damaging health, above all in people who are the poorest on earth.
The Church, following the example of Jesus, with loving attention has always placed herself at the service of the sick and those who are sight challenged, creating therapeutic structures and more recently, collaborating with initiatives organized by public and private institutions both national and international in scope.
The World Health Organization, in its resolution 66.4 dated 2013, launched a Global Action Plan 2014-2019 focused on Universal Eye Health asking the nations of the world to make it possible for all people to have access to necessary promotional, preventative, curative and rehabilitative services in the field of ocular health, without having to suffer unsustainable impoverishment in order to do so.
In full accord with the gospel invitation and with the demands of the Global Action Plan, the Dicastery for Integral Human Development Services is organizing an international convention to be held at the Vatican in the month of November on the theme: Addressing Global Health Disparities. The work of vision care is fully part of this reflection on equal distribution of health resources. In addition to giving dignity to the person, restoring vision to a blind or visually impaired person is among the most cost-effective interventions among healthcare costs. Even though significant progress has already been made in the treatment of infectious diseases which cause blindness (tracoma, oncocercosis, leprosy etc ...) the increase in the average age of the world population is also resulting in an increasing incidence of age-related degenerative eye diseases (cataracts, glaucoma, maculopathy, etc). We must proclaim the right to sight as a universal right, connecting it to a precise and concrete ethical duty: to create the preconditions for this to take place. The involvement of governments in poor countries and the training of local staff must go hand in hand with the creation o decentralized healthcare structures and the sharing of service protocols based on international best practice policies.
For this purpose, the Church asks for the help and involvement of a network of Catholic hospitals throughout the world and the experience of the most important non-governmental organizations relating to blindness.
The challenge is on: knowing that the encouraging results obtained so far are in conflict with new health emergencies related to poverty, migration and aging. We are all called to take on new responsibilities: to fight against avoidable blindness, relying on the help and the tenderness of our God.
Keep me as the apple of your eye, protect me under the shadow of your wings (Ps 17:8).
Vatican City
12 October 2017
Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson
Prefect of the Dicastery
for Integral Human Development Services
Message of His Eminence, Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appia Turkson
for the XXX World Sight Day
The celebration of the XXX World Sight Day, organized by the World Health Organization, the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness and the World Union of the Blind, which will be observed on 12 October 2017, is for me an occasion to send a fraternal and cordial greeting to all those throughout the world who are committed to fighting against blindness.
It is estimated that ocular diseases are responsible for 39 million non-sighted people and 246 million people with deficient sight: this second number doubles if we take into consideration those who are challenged solely because of a lack of access to corrective lenses. We cannot remain indifferent to problems related to vision: 4 out of 5 cases of blindness are preventable or curable, 90% of people with reduced vision are found in poor countries in Southern countries throughout the world, where one child in two dies within one year of becoming blind (cf World Health Organization, Global Data on Visual Impairment, 2010).
Today, thank to developments in medicine, blindness and reduced vision can be considered as infectious diseases: with adequate care and timely care, they become preventable or curable in large part. The origin of the action - says Bonhoeffer - is not thought, but the availability of responsibility. Here is the deepest sense of the World Vision Day: the themes Universal Eye Health and Make vision count are aimed at awakening public consciousness, emphasizing the necessity for quality ocular care for everyone, and understanding the importance of sight.
Yes, the ability to see well is sometimes a promise of being able to live. The life of someone who is blind or sight challenged, especially when combined with conditions of poverty, can lead to marginalization and put life itself at risk. We must address the factors that most affect the causes of blindness and visual impairment, among which is the lack of qualified professionals, the difficulty of accessing appropriate care, and climate change which interferes negatively with planetary ecosystems, damaging health, above all in people who are the poorest on earth.
The Church, following the example of Jesus, with loving attention has always placed herself at the service of the sick and those who are sight challenged, creating therapeutic structures and more recently, collaborating with initiatives organized by public and private institutions both national and international in scope.
The World Health Organization, in its resolution 66.4 dated 2013, launched a Global Action Plan 2014-2019 focused on Universal Eye Health asking the nations of the world to make it possible for all people to have access to necessary promotional, preventative, curative and rehabilitative services in the field of ocular health, without having to suffer unsustainable impoverishment in order to do so.
In full accord with the gospel invitation and with the demands of the Global Action Plan, the Dicastery for Integral Human Development Services is organizing an international convention to be held at the Vatican in the month of November on the theme: Addressing Global Health Disparities. The work of vision care is fully part of this reflection on equal distribution of health resources. In addition to giving dignity to the person, restoring vision to a blind or visually impaired person is among the most cost-effective interventions among healthcare costs. Even though significant progress has already been made in the treatment of infectious diseases which cause blindness (tracoma, oncocercosis, leprosy etc ...) the increase in the average age of the world population is also resulting in an increasing incidence of age-related degenerative eye diseases (cataracts, glaucoma, maculopathy, etc). We must proclaim the right to sight as a universal right, connecting it to a precise and concrete ethical duty: to create the preconditions for this to take place. The involvement of governments in poor countries and the training of local staff must go hand in hand with the creation o decentralized healthcare structures and the sharing of service protocols based on international best practice policies.
For this purpose, the Church asks for the help and involvement of a network of Catholic hospitals throughout the world and the experience of the most important non-governmental organizations relating to blindness.
The challenge is on: knowing that the encouraging results obtained so far are in conflict with new health emergencies related to poverty, migration and aging. We are all called to take on new responsibilities: to fight against avoidable blindness, relying on the help and the tenderness of our God.
Keep me as the apple of your eye, protect me under the shadow of your wings (Ps 17:8).
Vatican City
12 October 2017
Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson
Prefect of the Dicastery
for Integral Human Development Services
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