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economist suntribune in our community saturday oct 12 2002 showing their artistic side staff photosjoerd witteveen mary foord member of the palettes of whitchurch works on a painting of midland harbour as she and other members prepare for the thanksgiving weekend art show sale at the lemonville community centre on mccowan road south of bloomington road preventable blindness a staggering problem staff photosteve somerville stouffville artist tony volpe seen here with his painting springtime has his work on dis play at the kathleen gormley mckay art gallery on main street unionville mr volpe is in attendance during a reception between 1 and 5 pm today by joan ransberry staff reporter the numbers are stagger ing 45 million blind peo ple worldwide now and by 2020 that number could reach 75 million about 50 people gathered on thursday as officials of the christian blind mission international cbmi of whitchurchstouffville joined global health organi zations and world coalitions against blindness to declare oct 10 world sight day and to introduce vision 2020 the ceremony included whitchurchstouffville mayor wayne emmerson and town councillors peter dobrich and cliff dunkeld the year 2002 has been declared the year to conquer avoidable blindness around the world world sight day is the one day of the year that we ask people to pause and think not only about their own vision but also about the eyesight of those less for tunate than themselves said david mccomiskey national director of the stouffville road mission there are more than 45 million blind people in the world and another 135 mil lion who are severely visual ly impaired said mr mccomiskey world sight day not only helps to focus our attention on this terrible and escalating problem but also helps us to think we can responsibly change this unacceptable situation the cbmi director reminded the audience that one only needs to travel to india or uganda to be con fronted by the problem of blindness in developing countries it is a sad fact that 90 per cent of the worlds blind and severely visually impaired people live in developing countries blind beggars including children still confront you on the streets of chennai and kampala vision 2020 officials are calling for support from gov- cliff dunkeld local residents know the good work done by christian blind mission ernments health care work ers private corporations and the public to raise money to eradicate needless blind ness trachoma one of the old est infectious diseases known to humanity is responsible for 15 per cent of the worlds blindness pri marily in africa world sight day is the one day of the year that we ask people to pause and think not only about their own vision hut also about the eyesight of those less fortunate than themselves trachoma is caused by a microorganism which spreads through contact with eye discharge from the infected person on towels fingers or tissue or by flies meanwhile beth jost- reimer a vision 2020 direc tor pointed out about 20 million people are blinded by cataracts nearly half of all global blindness this condition is treat able a lowcost 20minute surgical procedure costing less than 30 restores sight river blindness is as it suggests a blinding disease found primarily in west and central africa drug companies are dis tributing sightsaving med ication to people who are threatened by the disease linked to parasites but more help is needed ms jost- reimer said medical attention in poor countries is far from ade quate she stressed in africa there is one ophthalmologist for every million people in canada theres one for every 20000 given the lack of trained eye doctors in the develop ing world its not surprising to learn that over 20 million blind people living in the poorest countries could see again if they had access to cataract surgery said ms jostreimer mayor emmerson praised the cbmi and vision 2020 officials and their part ners including the canadian national institute for the blind eyesight internation al operation eyesight universal saving sight worldwide and seva for their efforts to conquer blindness meanwhile the mayor offered the communitys support in the endeavour councillor dunkeld said residents of whitchurch- stouffville are quite aware of the extensive work done by the christian blind mission people know especially of the cbmis work with the blind said councillor dunkeld meanwhile councillor dobrich pointed out world governments seem to be able to find money to put in defense budgets but cant find the funding to help chil dren who have been blinded by war october 25 26 and 27th markham fairgrounds qgjrftuhr in the kitchen healthy lifestyle centre crafters market building renovation interior design decor 905 6421908 ext 232 18882117288 ext 232 gheisari rug co sponsored by i chouinard bros roofing aluminum windows check out our website for updated information wwwmarkhamhomeshowcom masville ford 4arkville homes rqrputncolmgye shopping centre publishing group