IAPB

Who we are

The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) was established in 1975 as a coordinating, umbrella organisation to lead international efforts in blindness prevention activities. Its first major achievement was to promote the establishment of a WHO Programme for Prevention of Blindness,with which it has remained strongly linked, and which is now embodied in the global initiative, VISION 2020: The Right to Sight. VISION A world in which no one is needlessly blind or visually impaired and where those with unavoidable vision loss can achieve their full potential. MISSION IAPB’s mission is to eliminate the main causes of avoidable blindness and visual impairment by bringing together governments and non-governmental agencies to facilitate the planning, development and implementation of sustainable national eye care programmes based on the three core strategies of disease control, human resource development and infrastructure development, incorporating the principles of primary health care. IAPB promotes the global initiative VISION 2020: The Right to Sight, which aims to eliminate the main causes of avoidable blindness by the year 2020.