One Old Frame - One New Vision

Happy New Year to all. I am sure you all must be wondering why am I wishing you two days in advance? Well, I was very excited to share with you all my first Mission Vision activity. This year I have spent my Christmas and New year holidays in doing something valuable and substantial. I wish to gift the underprivileged children with something that will make this New Year the best one for them.
Since last week I have been busy going around my neighborhood, dad’s office and many other places to distribute posters requesting people to donate their old spectacle frames for these children.
One old useless frame of someone will help Mission Vision to provide a new vision to someone who needs it the most. I am collecting old frames with the goal that people will become aware of the unknown, untreated vision conditions of these poor children and in doing so become a part of this movement. The response to Mission Vision has been very motivating and encouraging. I am hoping to bring about a positive change in these children’s lives through this small step of mine. 
I would like to convey my heartfelt gratitude to the kind souls who have supported my initiative and donated their old frames for this cause. It has been a great learning experience for me till now. 
Even readers of this blog may donate their spare frames or may fund one frame for a child through our website www.missionvision.in.
Looking forward to the support.
Your One Old Frame can mean ‘One New Vision for Someone’. 
Happy New Year- Happy New Vision!

Mission Vision - Spreading The Power of Vision

Introducing to our social initiative ‘Mission Vision’- Spreading the power of vision. Seeing beneath the surface, beyond horizons and to energise new hopes for a brighter future.

Hellen Keller once said, “The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.” Here, at Mission Vision, we aim to improve the lives of children by not only enhancing their eyesight but more importantly, by gifting them with the power of vision. It is this vision that will enable them to see beneath the surface, beyond horizons and energise new hopes for a brighter future.

Childhood vision has a far greater impact on the individual and society. Vision problems at childhood can hinder education, personality development, and career opportunities, in addition to causing an economic burden on society. If not recognized or treated properly, childhood vision problems can lead to blindness. Many of the causes of blindness in children are either preventable or treatable. Timely and periodic screening is critical for the detection of visual impairment in children.

To address eye health of children during the early years of life, we have therefore focused on child eye health programs, which will facilitate refractive error screening services and improve visual impairment among them by providing them spectacles that are free of cost. The future of India needs the power of vision that will enable them to see beneath the surface, beyond horizons and energise new hopes. I hope that bringing this issue to the fore will help to pave the way for immediate corrective action and stem further incidences of deterioration and maybe even blindness in poor children.

At ‘Mission Vision’ our goal is to raise funds in order to facilitate refractive error screening services at underprivileged and government schools, thus correcting visual impairment among needy children by providing them spectacles that are free of cost.

The danger of Unknown, Untreated Vision Problem in India

Unknown and untreated vision problems in India are a leading cause of blindness in children. Blindness and vision problems are not only a health issue but are the most important social problems worldwide with immense economic implications. The major causes of a children vision problem in the world are socio economic under-development and the unavailability of primary health care and eye care services in a country like ours. Medical services are not available in time to treat cases of even a minor vision problem. This may lead to other major eye problems and at times even blindness in the younger generation.

During my experience of teaching underprivileged children, I realised that children had no clue that due to vision problem their academic performance was adversely affected. Doing their own regular chores is also a huge challenge for these children. A timely detection and vision correction through prescription glasses or spectacles can make a huge difference in the lives of these underprivileged children.

During my research on the vision problems, I found that even the World Health Organization (WHO) is running an awareness program since 1999. WHO reports that there are approximately 19 million visually impaired children in the world, and 1.4 million are blind. In India, one out of every 1000 children is estimated to be blind. About half of the causes of blindness and visual impairment are potentially preventable or treatable. Timely and periodic screening is critical for the detection of visual impairment in children.

To address this, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) initiated project ‘Vision 2020: the Right to Sight’ with the aim of eliminating avoidable blindness and preventing the projected doubling of avoidable visual impairment by 2020. VISION 2020 advocates for increased awareness of the need for low vision services.

Through my project ‘Mission Vision’ I am trying to bring change in the life of these children for a brighter future by timely identifying and rectifying their vision by providing them with spectacles. I hope through this project I can contribute towards the larger noble cause of the World Health Organization.

References:

https://www.nhp.gov.in/disease/blood-lymphatic/low-vision-and-visuai-aids

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC503526

https://www.who.int/bulletin/archives/79(3)227.pdf

http://www.vision2020india.org/

https://www.iapb.org/vision-2020/

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