“Thank God we have another opportunity to save some eyes of friends and family, from being stolen by glaucoma ‘HINTA ANIFRAYE’, the silent thief of sight. Our focus for free public eye screening and glaucoma awareness creation is on our market women who are regarded as mothers and a great economic block in the country.”

“Late diagnosis of open-angle glaucoma ruined the quality of my mother’s life and by extension mine…not to mention the 5.9 million others worldwide estimated by 2020.” “World Glaucoma Week successfully raises awareness of the Silent Thief of Sight in a B-I-G way, and helps to improve Early Detection and Treatment rates. Plus, raising awareness is FUN!”

“What I enjoy most of the World Glaucoma Week is working together with ophthalmologists, patient associations, media and health authorities with the same objective: to diagnose the early glaucoma, preserve vision and quality of life of the population.”

”It is the ‘sneak thief of sight’: glaucoma causes progressive visual loss; that loss is irreversible; it does not provoke symptoms till advanced; the afflicted person has no warning that slowly, steadily an undiagnosed condition is stealing away their vision. Early diagnosis and effective treatment are essential to minimize disability, which is tragic for the individual, for the family and for the community.“ “World Glaucoma Week coordinates activities around the world to increase awareness of the need for regular optic nerve checks to enable that earlier diagnosis. This applies especially to family members, who have a tenfold increased risk. World Glaucoma Week is an exciting, global initiative composed of hundreds of separate events with a common theme: be aware, get your eyes checked!”

”World Glaucoma Week is the opportunity to remind the community of the dangers of un-detected glaucoma, which remains a major cause of low vision and blindness worldwide. This is even more important for the direct (close) relatives of people already diagnosed with glaucoma as the incidence of glaucoma in that family group is up to ten times higher than the general community. Hosting a B.I.G Breakfast is an ideal way for a person to ensure their family knows to have regular optic nerve checks as part of a comprehensive eye test.”

“When Ivan Goldberg and George Lambrou started the first World Glaucoma Day years ago, little did we know how it wo u l d grow into World Glaucoma Week and be celebrated worldwide. The first Glaucoma Day was a rather heady experience and took a lot of work to get off the ground. Making up the logo and then putting it into 50 different alphabets was a real job. Many countries participated actively, but the one that stands out is Antigua where Jillia Bird screened half the population of the island, held Glaucoma Day parades, TV and radio shows on glaucoma and even had a set of stamps issued by the government of Antigua. It was truly a remarkable job and Jillia now, having steadily moved up, is President of the World Glaucoma Patient Association. Another person who got strongly involved from the beginning was Harry Abutiate in Ghana, who is now Vice President of the World Glaucoma Patient Association. All in all, I remember it as a truly rewarding experience to have been able to pull off attracting so many people and so many countries in a relatively short period of time. World Glaucoma Week grew partly out of the fact that different religions have holidays on different days of the week, and to have one day as a World Glaucoma Day at an inopportune time, led us to expand the events into World Glaucoma Week, affording the opportunity for greater expansion and more leeway for extended programs. All in all, it has done a great deal to increase glaucoma awareness.”

“World Glaucoma Week has so far saved so many people, we remain determined to saving more and more”

“The World Glaucoma Week is important because the prevalence of glaucoma is 5 % in people aged over 40 years in Japan and most of the patients DO NOT know that they have suffered from it. I, very personally, remember that we conducted a large population study for glaucoma some 15 years ago in Tajimi City, and we were involved in it eagerly. Tajimi citizens are well motivated to screen eye diseases especially glaucoma since then. This is why WGA events have been most actively held in Tajimi since 2008. Dr Aiko Iwase, very enthusiastic lady doctor manages virtually all of the Tajimi events (Figs. 1 and 2). Glaucoma patients are very well managed in the city through her WGW activities and cares.” “Looking all over Japan, Japan Glaucoma Society and Glaucoma Friend Network, our glaucoma patients association, host several WGA events in Tokyo and Osaka every year (Figs. 3 and 4). Moreover, we plan to have a new event named ‘Green Light-up’ in five cities this year, which symbolizes glaucoma. We hope that the new strategy calls more attention from citizens.”