World Sight Day Celebrated
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- Date: Sun, 14 Oct 2007 18:45:42 -0400
Solomon Times, Solomon Islands
Friday, October 12, 2007
World Sight Day Celebrated
By JOY BASI
Caption: Mr. Eddie Babanisi, Committee Chairperson. (Source: Joanna Sireheti)
The world sight day was celebrated yesterday at the central market with the
theme "Children and Vision" focusing mainly on children who are visually
impaired.
Those present at the celebration were Government representatives, Non
Governmental Organizations, stakeholders and curious members of the public.
Speaking at the opening of the celebration, world sight day committee chairman,
Mr. Eddie Babanisi, stated that it is important to "bear in mind that children
must have their rights respected even if they are visually impaired". Mr
Babanisi also expressed his gratitude to those that have been supportive
towards those that have problems with vision.
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Medical Service, Dr.
George Malefoasi, pointed out that at least 0.7% of children with vision
problem are curable. "This is a priority for us, having proper eye services to
ensure that it does not lead to future problems. The theme for today is
important because the children are our leaders for tomorrow," says Dr.
Malefoasi.
Also speaking at the world sight day was the Acting Liaison Officer for the
World Health Organization (WHO,) Dr. Jeffery Hii, who highlighted the fact that
"every five minutes children in developing countries die due to lack of proper
access to basic health services and this leads to continuous problems".
Dr Hii also stated that the reluctance to give priority to visual prevention
"led to the vision 2020 for children adopted by the WHO". He said that the
vision 2020 is an initiative that aims to increase awareness through targeted
programmes, provide training for relevant authorities to handle such problems
and build proper infrastructure.
http://www.solomontimes.com/news.aspx?nwID=743
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