Upcoming Events
October 10, 2006
World Mental Health Day
Building awareness - reducing risk
World Mental Health Day raises public awareness about mental health issues. This year's World Mental Health Day will focus on suicide as a leading cause of premature and preventable death. The theme is "Building Awareness - Reducing Risk: Mental Illness and Suicide" as suicide is often a consequence of failing to diagnose and treat serious mental illness.The Day is an initiative of the World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH), and this year, it is jointly supported by the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) in collaboration with other NGOs and co-sponsored by WHO. * * *October 12, 2006
World Sight Day
Low vision and refractive error World Sight Day is an annual event that focuses attention on the global problem of blindness and visual impairment. It aims to raise public awareness around the world about blindness and visual impairment, and to garner support and commitment in ensuring the right to sight for all. The theme of this year's event, low vision and refractive error, draws attention to the hundreds of millions of people who are functionally blind simply because they need spectacles. Refractive error can be simply diagnosed, measured and corrected; yet many people do not have access to these basic services. The World Health Organisation is working with its partners to provide affordable optical correction to people in need, especially those in poor areas with limited eye care services. There are about 1.5 million blind children worldwide, and this number appears to be growing. Approximately 500,000 children become blind every year - one every minute. About half of them die within one or two years of becoming blind. Approximately one third of the total economic cost of blindness is thought to be due to childhood blindness. Unlike adults, blind children have a lifetime of blindness ahead, which affects their opportunities for education, employment, and earning. Blindness starts early in life adversely affects psychomotor, social, and emotional development. And blind children have a higher death rate than their sighted counterparts. A national study by International Centre for Eye Health, UK and Child Sight Foundation revealed that around 40,000 children are blind in Bangladesh. Two thirds of blind children have lost their sight because of conditions that could either have been prevented or they have conditions where surgery could restore sight. Other studies suggest that there are almost 10,000 children with some degree of visual impairment in every million population, and most of them just need glasses to be able to see clearly again. The World Sight Day provides an opportunity to become more aware and committed for our children to ensure their right to sight. Compiled by Md Rajib Hossain
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