Orbis for eye awareness among children
On this children’s day, Orbis, an international non-profit organization that works towards eye care especially amongst children, started a new campaign called #SpectaclesAreBeautiful. The campaign aimed at removing the shame attached with usage of spectacles.
Their recent concern is to increase awareness about the problem a child might face by not wearing spectacles. Children nowadays are often teased by peers for wearing spectacles. In India, 12 million children are visually impaired due to refractive errors. This is a condition that can easily be diagnosed and corrected by simply using spectacles. Parents in this country, hesitate when it comes to usage of spectacles, especially for girls. Well, this acts as a barrier for treating refractive error. They also arranged a special session at Raahgiri on Sunday in CP to help parents understand that children need to stop worrying about their looks in spectacles. Orbis thought of this campaign as a way to make people feel that “spectacles are beautiful” and break all the shame regarding wearing spectacles.
The programs they run in India, focus on preventing blindness and treating eye diseases especially among children. They believe that when a kid can see better, it is not just vision, but also lightens the burden of the family. It is about empowering the child to actively participate in the community and become a part of a bigger picture.
Orbis founded by the leaders of the medical and aviation industries in 1970s. Interestingly, the organization started its work on a plane. It was a fully equipped mobile teaching hospital and also world’s only Flying Eye Hospital, which was flown by volunteer pilots from one country to another with an international volunteer medical teach, teaching sight saving skills to ophthalmic professionals. They taught people through lectures and hands- on training in developing countries.
After the organization grew a little, it identified India as one of the priority countries and established a permanent office in New Delhi in the year of 2000. Since then, Orbis has been bringing sight to people across the country by strengthening the local eye care institutions, introducing ophthalmic technology, training staff and increasing public awareness regarding eye health.
