Diseases & Injuries of the Eye
More than 80 percent of all eye disorders and diseases are preventable or treatable. However, without improvements in preventing and treating eye diseases—and most important making eye care accessible to everyone—the number of blind or visually impaired people throughout the world, age 40 and older will grow—in the United States from 3.4 to 5.5 million in 2020. (Archives of Ophthalmology)
The cost of vision impairment and eye disease is enormous and statistics do not reflect or fully quantify the impact of many of the serious consequences including lost productivity, reduced independence, diminished quality of life and increased depression.
The leading cause of blindness worldwide, and the leading cause of vision loss in Armenia and in the United States is Cataracts—an easily treatable disease with a surgery that takes just minutes. However, without access to eye care many people, particularly in Armenia, are blind from Cataracts. The EyeCare Project, with its Mobile Eye Hospital traveling throughout Armenia to some of the most remote areas is working hard to encourage people to see an eye specialist, have their eyes examined and treated—to eliminate preventable blindness.
