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Celebrating World Sight Day 2012 in Armenia

The Armenian EyeCare Project (AECP), with the support of the Ministry of Health of Armenia and USAID/Armenia, and in collaboration with the National Chamber Orchestra of Armenia and the Art & Sports Center of Arabkir, organized a series of events in October 2012 to mark World Sight Day (WSD) – an international day of awareness, held annually on the second Thursday of October in over 100 countries. The purpose of this observance was to raise the issues of avoidable blindness and visual impairment on the global stage.


”Within the framework of the recently launched USAID-AECP program– the Center of Excellence for Prevention of Childhood Blindness–the AECP theme for  World Sight Day 2012 is ''Bringing Sight to Children's Eyes'' to highlight issues of prevention of childhood blindness,'' announced AECP Country Director Nune Yeghiazaryan.



WSD 2012 events in Armenia were launched on October 11. The AECP medical team conducted free eye screening for elderly people in Hatsik village, Armavir province, followed by a surprise dance performance for village residents. The students of the Art & Sports Center of Arabkir, invited by the AECP from Yerevan, performed a flash-mob at the village school, inviting everyone to dance.



Flyers with WSD messages and eye care information were distributed to people after the event.

 

Our mission is eliminating
preventable blindness and
making eye care accessible to
all people in Armenia.

On October 13, AECP fellow Lilit Mkrtchyan conducted eye screenings at #14 Specialized School of Yerevan for children with low vision.The same day, the AECP team joined the charity campaign of the U.S. Embassy in Armenia in Lukashin village (Armavir) where volunteers painted windows of the local public school, which was in need of refurbishment. The U.S. Embassy and the AECP staffs participated in a harvest festival, organized by the local school children.

The AECP doctors examined 136 elderly people, 12 of them were referred to the AECP Mobile Eye Hospital for a surgery or laser treatment, 52 will receive free eye glasses.

Two charity concerts at the Komitas Chamber Music Hall (1 Isahakyan Street, Yerevan) wrapped up the WSD events. On October 23, the National Chamber Orchestra of Armenia (NCOA) performed a classical music program with Levon Chilingirian, a world famous violinist of Armenian origins, invited from the UK . Vahan Mardirossian , the principal conductor and artistic director of Caen Symphony Orchestra (France) and the NCOA presented another concert on October 25 with NCOA soloists. Funds raised at these events will support programs fighting childhood blindness in Armenia and the region.

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