April 7th 2018 is World Health Day and the World Health Organization’s 70th anniversary. This is an important opportunity to draw worldwide attention to global health. This year the theme is universal health coverage.
The experts from Specsavers Opticas are marking this day by offering eye health information in store and raising awareness that an eye test is not just for people that need glasses, but a vital health check. “Opticians on the High Street offer easy access to highly trained professional ophthalmologists, who are able to check whether your eyes are healthy and if your vision is good. Having an eye test every two years, or when you notice a change in your vision, enables your optician to identify changes that might be associated with certain eye conditions.
If necessary, the optician can refer you directly for further medical examination to your hospital or general practitioner and it can be a good way to identify health conditions before they manifest symptoms or become serious.”
A routine eye test at Specsavers in the UK helped save the life of a student midwife after it found she had fluid on her brain. Sian King was told by Doctors that she could have had a stroke, suffered a potentially life-threatening brain aneurysm or may have gone blind had the fluid on the brain not been identified and treated so quickly. “Cases such as these are thankfully rare, but highlights how important it is to have a regular eye test”, commented José Ángel Moral-Tajadura Retail and Business Development Manager of Specsavers Opticas.
The WHO estimates that in 2010 there were 285 million people visually impaired, and 80% of all causes of visual impairment are preventable or curable. In 2014 WHO launched a global action plan for Universal Eye Health and has just two more years to complete their plan to provide effective and accessible eye care services globally.
The aim is to reduce avoidable visual impairment as a global public health problem and to secure access to rehabilitation services for the visually impaired.
Specsavers is supporting the global eye health action plan and World Health Day to ensure that nobody is needlessly visually impaired and those with unavoidable vision loss can achieve their full potential.
They are offering free advanced eye tests using the latest technology, highly trained ophthalmologists and information on eye health and protecting the eyes in store throughout April. To find your nearest store visit www.specsavers.es
