VISION 2020 – The Right To Sight, is a joint global eye health initiative of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) launched in 1999, with the goal of eliminating the main causes of preventable and treatable blindness by the year 2020.
Among the many causes of blindness, the following conditions have been identified as first-line targets because they are associated with a high burden of blindness and modalities for their treatment and prevention are available and affordable: cataract, trachoma, onchocerciasis, childhood blindness and refractive errors.
The initiative calls for cross-collaboration among various ophthalmological bodies, as well as governmental and non-governmental organisations to contribute to:
- disease prevention and control, by
- mobilizing resources
- training personnel
- strengthening existing eye care infrastructure, and
- using appropriate and affordable technology.