PURSUANT to Proclamation No. 40, which was signed into law by the then President Ramon Magsaysay on July 5, 1954, the month of August is observed as the National Sight Saving Month in the Philippines.
Historically speaking, the enactment of PN 40 was triggered by the result of a preliminary survey made by the Philippine Eye Bank in the late 1940s that showed that a staggering 40,000 visually-impaired Filipinos could have saved their sight should necessary precautions had been undertaken.
Data from the World Health Organization (WHO) estimate that in 1975, there were 28 million blind people worldwide. By 1990s, it estimated that global blindness may reach an alarming 76 million by the year 2020.
WHO likewise identifies the following major risk factors for visual impairment due to eye diseases: 1) age [at least 50 years and above]; 2) female gender; 3) socioeconomic status particularly those living in the developing countries; and 4) factors such as exposure to UV radiation, vitamin A deficiency, high body mass index and metabolic disorders.
In 2012, WHO reported 285 million people worldwide were visually impaired; 39 million of which were totally blind and the remaining 246 million had low vision. It also claims 80 percent of all cases of visual impairment could have been avoided or cured. Such treatable conditions are cataract, error of refraction and childhood blindness.
In the Philippines, 569, 072 are bilaterally (both eyes) blind as of 2013.
Furthermore, 62 percent of which is due to cataract; 10 percent because of uncorrected refractor errors (like myopia, astigmatism and presbyopia); 8 percent is due maculopathy (usually caused by ageing as in macular degeneration) and 2 percent is caused by retinopathies (complications of diabetes).
Economically speaking, blindness has profound impact in all societies. Particularly, the cost of loss productivity, rehabilitation and education of the visually impaired individual constitute a significant socioeconomic burden for the individual, family and society.
Health economists and medical sociologists have found two forms of socioeconomic costs of the visually impaired- direct and indirect.
For instance, the direct costs may include treatment of the eye that utilizes medical, surgical and nursing services, pharmaceutical interventions and the cost in accessing the health facility.
In the same light, indirect cost includes loss of potential earnings of visually-impaired people and their caregivers. It also includes the costs of lifestyle modifications- the use of visual aids, lost revenues, pain, suffering and premature death.
In response to these unique health problems, WHO launched in 1999 a global initiative known as “Vision 2020: the right to sight.”
It envisions a world in which no one is needlessly blind and where those with unavoidable vision loss can achieve their maximum potential. It aims to eliminate the main causes of avoidable blindness by 2020.
Vision 2020 as an international health program designed to be adapted by multi-nationals as among its signatories have three elements: cost-effective disease control; human resource development and infrastructure and technology.
In terms of cost-effective disease control, Vision 2020 calls for the national government to deliver eye-care services that are comprehensive at the three levels of healthcare- preventive, curative and rehabilitative. Specifically, it targets the following eye diseases: cataract; refractory errors; low vision; childhood blindness; trachoma (most common cause of infectious blindness due to the bacteria Chlamydia Trachomatis); Onchocerciasis (parasitic infection of the eye caused by Onchocerca that is transmitted by flies); Age-related macular degeneration (most common cause of blindness in industrial societies due to damage to an eye structure “macula”); diabetic retinopathy; and glaucoma (caused by nerve damage to eye structure).
The Human Resource Development is a strategy to appoint a team of qualified health professionals that will provide quality eye health services. This team consists of an ophthalmologist; optometrist; and ophthalmology (eye-care) nurse.
Lastly, the Infrastructure and Technology aims to provide the necessary equipment, ophthalmic supplies and devices in hospitals and health facilities for accessibility purposes.
The Philippines, through the Department of Health (DOH), is among the countries that have sworn during the latest World Health Assembly in 2013 to adopt this international health programme for the eye.
Under the flagship of the Universal Health Care (UHC) or the “Kalusugan Pangkalahatan” by the post-terminus Aquino administration, the DOH has integrated the “Universal Eye Health” Programme, which adapts the provisions of Vision 2020, to its Primary Health Care Programme, specifically under the Non-communicable control diseases program of the government.
As such, DOH has implemented a five-year strategic plan for prevention of blindness from 2013 to 2017. Digressing a little, a person with normal eyesight has a score of 20/20. Hence, probably, the reason for the spiel “Vision 2020” programme by WHO.
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