Initially started by the Lions Club International Foundation as part of the Sight First campaign in the year 2000, World Sight Day is now coordinated by the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) under the VISION 2020 global initiative which aims to promote a world in which nobody is needlessly visually impaired.

The main aims of World Sight Day include:

• To Raise public awareness of issues surrounding blindness and visual impairment.
• To influence Governments, and in particular Health Ministers to participate in and donate funds to blindness prevention programmes.
• To educate about blindness prevention.
• To generate support for Vision 2020 programme and activities.

Across the world, events include seminars, donation drives rallies and online events. There is also an annual World Sight Day photography competition which is open to photographers both amateur and professional, anywhere in the world.

This year's WSD call to action is :