![[DRC] A blind man and his wife, who had fled to the mountains to avoid dissident army troops advancing on Kamanyola, South Kivu Province, eastern DRC, receives food relief aid. (Date: 20 July, 2004)](https://assets.thenewhumanitarian.org/s3fs-public/styles/responsive_large_2x/public/images/200472336.jpg.webp?itok=pCCekoG_ "A blind man and his wife receive food relief aid in eastern DRC")
Next week 9 October, is World Sight Day, an annual day of awareness to focus global attention on blindness and vision impairment and to eliminate avoidable blindness by the year Commissionforafrica.org reports that in Africa alone, nearly 4 percent of the population (26,778 million people) are severely visually impaired, of whom more than 1 percent (6,782 million) are blind.
“Visual impairment has a profound impact on the quality of life of individuals and their communities, and greatly constrains the national potential for poverty alleviation and social and economic development … a conservative estimate of the annual direct economic productivity loss due to blindness and low vision in sub-Saharan Africa is US$1,830 million in 2000. Without concerted international action, this will rise to $4,374 million per year by 2020, the equivalent of 0.50 percent of GDP for the region.”
According to the WHO, without intervention, the number of blind people worldwide could increase from 37 million in 2008 to 75 million by 2020.
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