World Glaucoma Awareness Week: Wishing Everyone 20:20 Vision in 2020

Highlights:

World Glaucoma Awareness Week is being celebrated on 8-14 March 2020
Its main objective is to create more awareness among the general public about the dangers of glaucoma
This will enable early diagnosis, treatment and prevention of blindness arising from glaucoma

World Glaucoma Awareness Week is being celebrated on 8-14 March 2020 across the globe. It is jointly organized by the World Glaucoma Association (WGA) and the World Glaucoma Patient Committee (WGPC). The celebrations have been successfully running for over a decade. It is very encouraging to know that since the World Glaucoma Awareness Week was launched, over 8,000 events have taken place across the globe.

The celebrations bring together patients, ophthalmologists, health officials and the general public for awareness generation about the importance of regular eye check-ups for preventing glaucoma-associated blindness. Since the symptoms of glaucoma become evident only at a late stage, it is considered to be an invisible disease. Therefore, the 2020 World Glaucoma Awareness Week Theme is very apt – ‘B-I-G: Beat Invisible Glaucoma’.

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Objective of World Glaucoma Awareness Week

The primary objective of World Glaucoma Awareness Week is to prevent blindness arising from glaucoma. Since the disease gives no warning until it is in an advanced stage, the organizers lay stress on the importance of regular eye checks to detect the disease as early as possible so that sight can be saved.

World Glaucoma Awareness Week – “B-I-G Beat Invisible Glaucoma”
World Glaucoma Awareness Week is observed from 11th - 17th March. The week emphasizes the need for regular eye check-ups to prevent glaucoma, which affects all the age group.

Essential Aspects of Glaucoma

Glaucoma is a disease of the eye that occurs due to the build-up of pressure within the eyeball, technically termed as intraocular pressure (IOP). Elevated IOP damages the optic nerve, which is responsible for relaying visual information from the eyes to the brain, where the perception of vision is generated. If left untreated, continuous damage to the optic nerve can result in irreversible blindness. Although there are several types of glaucoma, the most prominent are primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) and angle-closure glaucoma (ACG).

The high prevalence of glaucoma depends on several factors, including the following:

Late presentation to the doctor
Non-compliance to doctor’s advice
Lack of knowledge about eye care
High severity at the time of diagnosis

The most common diagnostic procedure for glaucoma is called tonometry, which is used to measure the IOP. There are also other diagnostic tests, including examination of the structure and function of the optic nerve. Glaucoma can be treated by eye drops, systemic medications, incisional surgery and laser surgery.

Glaucoma: Facts & Figures

Glaucoma is the most common cause of irreversible blindness
Glaucoma is the 3^rd leading cause of blindness
79.6 million people are currently living with glaucoma worldwide
12 million Indians are currently living with glaucoma
1.2 million Indians are blind due to glaucoma
90 percent of glaucoma cases remain undiagnosed in India
11 million people are currently bilaterally blind due to glaucoma worldwide
1 in 200 people have glaucoma by the age of 40 years
111.8 million people will have glaucoma by 2040
50 percent people with glaucoma don’t know that they have the disease
Family of glaucoma patients has a 10-fold higher risk of developing glaucoma
People over the age of 50 years are at a higher risk of developing glaucoma
1 in 10,000 babies are born with congenital glaucoma
Glaucoma can be successfully treated in 75 percent of cases
Artificial Intelligence (AI) could revolutionize the early detection of glaucoma

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Ways to Generate Awareness about Glaucoma

World Glaucoma Awareness Week provides an ideal opportunity to increase awareness about the disease through various events and activities, involving people from all walks of life. Some of the ways to increase awareness about glaucoma are highlighted below:

Knowledge Dissemination: Providing authentic knowledge to people, especially students, about the importance of regular eye check-ups can go a long way to prevent glaucoma-associated blindness
Educational Forums: Conferences, symposia, public lectures, webinars, panel discussions and debates on the topic of glaucoma are very effective ways of generating awareness
CME’s for Medics: Medical college and hospital-centric activities such as CME (Continuing Medical Education) programs on glaucoma can be conducted to increase awareness among medical students and doctors
Free Eye Check-Ups: Conductingfree eye check-ups at the community level can detect glaucoma at an early stage, as well as encourage people to take regular care of their eyes
Glaucoma Walkathons: Participating in sponsored walks is a fun way of increasing awareness about glaucoma as well as raising funds for patient care
Advocacy: Sustained advocacy efforts will not only help to shape public opinion, but also encourage policymakers to develop health policies that benefit glaucoma patients
Sit-and-Draw Competitions: Drawing and painting competitions focusing on vision will help to spread the message among youngsters about the importance of taking care of their eyes
Media Coverage: Promotion of the events taking place on World Glaucoma Awareness Week through radio, TV, electronic or print media would showcase the importance of glaucoma among the masses
Popular Articles: Publication of informative popular articles on glaucoma in newspapers or blogs would help to generate awareness and ignite interest about the disease among the general public
Lighting-Up in ‘Green’: The awareness color for World Glaucoma Awareness Week is ‘Green’. Therefore, illumination of prominent buildings and landmarks in ‘Green’ light will not only create awareness about glaucoma, but also be a feast for the eyes

Conclusion

World Glaucoma Awareness Week is an ideal platform for the generation of awareness about glaucoma. It is quite feasible that glaucoma could be eradicated through education and health programs, coupled with advocacy efforts. Furthermore, early case detection, prompt treatment and adequate preventive measures will facilitate eradication so that visual disability can be prevented in millions of people across the globe.

Hence, make sure that you’re fully aware of the ‘silent thief of sight’ to avoid being its next victim!

References:

World Glaucoma Week: March 8-14, 2020 - (https://www.worldglaucomaweek.org/)
Statistics - World Glaucoma Association, Amsterdam, The Netherlands - (https://www.glaucomapatients.org/basic/statistics/)
World Glaucoma Week - National Health Portal, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India - (https://www.nhp.gov.in/world-glaucoma-week_pg)
March 8th to 14th is World Glaucoma Awareness Week - Irish College of Ophthalmologists, Dublin, Ireland - (https://www.eyedoctors.ie/campaigns/glaucomaweek/)

Source-Medindia