Line of women receiving eye care, Chitrakoot, India. Photo by Brian Harris.

Thursday October 8th is World Sight Day and Seva Canada is planning a range of events to mark the occasion. This year's theme for World Sight Day is gender and eye health. Here are the facts: 1. Two-thirds of the world's 45 million blind people are women & girls. 2. In many countries, men's access to eye care is twice that of women. 3. Effective strategies can and do successfully address this inequity. Seva is a global leader in understanding and addressing the barriers to eye care faced by girls and women. This World Sight Day, Seva Canada will be holding Seva's Eye Opener fundraising event at Vancouver's Heritage Hall, with special guest Dr. Paul Courtright, co-director of the Kilimanjaro Centre for Community Ophthalmology (Seva's partner in eastern Africa) and the world leader on the issue of gender and blindness. Also, Seva will be launching a national on-line video contest "Her Sight Is Worth It" with great prizes. More about the contest and all our events soon at www.seva.ca.