The celebration of “World Sight Day” in Saudi Arabia entitled ‘Eyes on the future - fighting vision impairment in later life,” was launched here on Saturday. The launching ceremony was attended by 300 doctors and researchers in the field of vision impairment in the public and private sectors. The event, organized by Ebsar Foundation's Rehabilitation and Vision Impairment Services with cooperation from Al-Maghrabi Hospital in Jeddah, aims at executing a number of programs, workshops and activities to raise awareness of the various factors that lead to visual disability and the latest methods of prevention of diseases that cause blindness. Dr. Akif Maghrabi, founder of Ebsar Foundation said that 80 percent of the 45 million blind people around the world are over the age of 50 years. About 90 percent of them live in developing countries. Muhammad Balu, the Director General of Ebsar Foundation said 75 percent of the cases of blindness were avoidable, adding that risks of cataract, age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy dramatically increase with age.
