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Melitta J. Cutright
Kristopher Kempski
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For Immediate Release

Lions Clubs International To Mark World Sight Day
October 6-7 In Sri Lanka

OAK BROOK, Illinois, USA, September 19, 2007—Lions Clubs International and Lions in Sri Lanka will mark World Sight Day in Colombo, Sri Lanka on October 6-7. Lions clubs throughout the nation have conducted vision screenings for more than 50,000 residents and distributed eyeglasses to those in need. They are also arranging free cataract surgery for more than 1,500 people at the two Lions eye hospitals in the area—the Lions Gift of Sight Hospital in Panadura and the Lions Hospital at Hendala. The surgeries are made possible through a SightFirst grant from Lions Clubs International Foundation (LCIF). Lions launched World Sight Day, now its in 10th year, to recognize the importance of eradicating preventable blindness around the world.

 “The main cause of blindness in Sri Lanka is cataracts, which in most cases can be treated with surgery and sight can be restored,” says Mahendra Amarasuriya, president of Lions Clubs International and a resident of Colombo. “Lions have provided more than 7.3 million cataract surgeries around the world. We have made great strides in lowering the rate of blindness in many countries including Sri Lanka, China and India but much more needs to be done to prevent blindness and restore sight to the millions of people who need help.

“Each year there are approximately 49,000 cataract surgeries in Sri Lanka, a nation of nearly 21 million people,” says Amarasuriya. “This leaves a cataract backlog of approximately 300,000 patients with 144,000 new cases added annually.”

World Sight Day events will coincide with the Jubilee Celebration of the 50th anniversary of Lions clubs in Sri Lanka. To mark the occasion, Lions are organizing a seminar about childhood blindness and a walk in support of Campaign SightFirst II, Lions global fund-raising effort to raise US$150 million for the SightFirst program of LCIF, the grant making arm of Lions Clubs International.

Lions clubs around the world will also hold local activities on World Sight Day—officially October 11 this year—and throughout October to educate their communities about the need to preserve sight. For previous World Sight Days, local Lions have screened the vision of children in Bosnia and Herzegovina and children and adults in Mali in west Africa; conducted cataract screenings and surgeries in Madagascar; collected used eyeglasses in the United Kingdom, USA and Australia to be recycled and distributed to those in need in developing countries; screened high-risk populations for diabetes and diabetic retinopathy in California, USA; and scheduled programs to educate community members about the dangers of blindness and diabetes as well as what can be done to prevent vision loss in countries around the world.

Lions Clubs International is the world’s largest service club organization with 1.3 million members in 45,000 clubs in 200 countries and geographical areas around the world. Since 1917, Lions clubs have aided the blind and visually impaired and made a strong commitment to community service and serving youth throughout the world. To learn more, visit www.lionsclubs.org.

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