October 8^th is World Sight Day, a global day of awareness to focus attention on blindness and avoidable visual impairment. In honor of the event, OneSight revealed the results of a study carried out in collaboration with Deloitte, which provides an accurate and updated picture of the global vision crisis.

The study found of the 2.5 billion people in the world who need glasses, 1.1 billion of them lack access. That means 1 in 7 people around the world can’t see clearly because they do not have access to a simple pair of glasses. Among them, 239 million are children. The vision care crisis is most acute in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia and affects up to 44% of the population in certain countries.

World Sight Day, which takes place every year on the second Thursday of October, is coordinated by World Health Organization and IAPB (the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness) with the active participation of many partners, including OneSight, working together to raise public awareness of blindness and vision impairment as major international public health issues. It is also an opportunity to educate communities on how clear vision may be the one thing standing between an individual and their full potential. Visual impairment directly impacts learning, productivity at work, mobility and even in simple daily activities. An eye exam and a simple pair of glasses can fundamentally change someone’s world.

OneSight's campaign #HelpTheWorldSee - launched on World Sight Day 2015 – aims to raise awareness on this need and help give a voice to the 1.1 billion people who need glasses, but lack access. Join by sharing a photo of yourself using your hands as glasses (“hand-glasses”) with the hashtag #HelpTheWorldSee on your social media channels. It is an easy and fun way to highlight the importance of eyeglasses and clear vision.

Leading high-profile figures, celebrities and influencers have rallied behind the #HelpTheWorldSee campaign, including alpine skier Lindsey Vonn, professional skateboarder Ryan Sheckler, cyclist Chas Christiansen and supermodel Georgia May Jagger. Curious to see their personal hand-glasses and find out which other celebrities have joined the OneSight campaign? Follow throughout October #HelpTheWorldSee and @OneSightOrg on Twitter.

Your help will support OneSight, an independent nonprofit sponsored by Luxottica, in its mission to eradicate the global vision crisis worldwide. OneSight has helped more than 9 million people in 41 countries to see clearly, providing sustainable solutions to meet both the immediate and long-term vision care needs of underserved communities.