Tell me more about vision impairment internationally.

There are many websites that discuss vision impairment with some focusing on specific blinding diseases. You may want to start with the following:

  • International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) is the global organization leading international efforts in blindness prevention, including mobilization of resources. IAPB member organizations include academic institutions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), service organizations, and corporations dedicated to the prevention of blindness. IAPB is aligned with the WHO's Programme for Prevention of Blindness and together, they coordinate the Vision 2020: the Right to Sight campaign.
  • Lions Clubs International: SightFirst Initiatives. From 1917, Lions clubs have been dedicated to the prevention of blindness since Helen Keller herself charged them to take up this cause. The Lions SightFirst program funds eye hospitals and eye care programs through approximately 45,000 Lions Clubs in 197 regions throughout the world. Lions Clubs International is a member of IAPB and established World Sight Day, now celebrated worldwide by IAPB and its member organizations.
  • National Eye Institute (NEI) was established by Congress in 1968 to protect and prolong the vision of the American people. As one of the Federal government's National Institutes of Health (NIH), the NEI conducts and supports research that helps prevent and treat eye diseases and other disorders of vision. Part of the NEI mission is to develop public and professional education programs that help prevent blindness, reduce visual impairment, and increase awareness of services and devices that are available for people with low vision.
  • Prevent Blindness America was founded in 1908 as a volunteer eye health and safety organization dedicated to fighting blindness and saving sight. Focused on promoting a continuum of vision care, Prevent Blindness America provides vision screening, develops and disseminates education materials, advocates to improve health policies, supports research, and trains screening personnel.
  • Vision 2020: the Right to Sight is a global initiative which aims to eliminate avoidable blindness by the year 2020, and was jointly launched by the World Health Organization and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) member organizations involved in eye care and prevention of blindness.
  • World Blind Union (WBU) "is the only organization entitled to speak on behalf of blind and partially sighted persons of the world, representing 180 million blind and visually impaired persons from about 600 different organizations in 158 countries." WBU is divided into 6 regions with constitutions of their own. Together the regions form the World Blind Union. The WBU is a non-political, non-religious, non-governmental and non-profit-making organization. WBU has consultative status within the UN Agencies and ECOSOC.
  • World Health Organization (WHO) is the United Nations specialized agency for health. It was established on 7 April 1948. WHO's objective is the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health. Health is defined in WHO's Constitution as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. The WHO prevention of blindness and deafness team (PBD) works with Member States through WHO regional offices to develop strategies for prevention and control of blindness, deafness and hearing impairment. Team members, together with many partners in the field, including NGOs and WHO collaborating centres, work with country-based teams to support the implementation of national strategies for prevention of blindness. In addition, to facilitate ongoing strategic planning, the PBD team co-ordinates the collection and dissemination?of national, regional, and global data that reflect the burden of visual and hearing impairment and the implementation of programme strategies.
  • World Ophthalmology Congress (WOC) website provides a comprehensive country-specific listing of non-profit organizations working in the field of international eye care, rehabilitation, and prevention of blindness. The WOC meets every two years bringing together the International Council of Ophthalmology and the Federation of Ophthalmology Societies responsible for setting standards and training ophthalmologists worldwide. Other participants include WHO/PBL, IAPB and its members, and other ophthalmology organizations.