WHO promotes health benefits of sunglasses

The World Health Organisation and other global groups have launched a major project aimed at reducing cataracts caused by solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation by promoting protective eye wear.
As well as reporting the incidence of skin cancers, the initiative promotes protecting the eyes with wraparound design sunglasses or sunglasses with side panels to reduce the 132,000 recorded malignant melanomas which occur across the world annually.
The project also has introduced internationally agreed symbols and graphics to make people more aware of the UV radiation threat via news and weather bulletins, published in a new WHO booklet, Global Solar UV Index Ð A Practical Guide. WHO and three other bodies Ð the World Meterorological Organisation, the United Nations Environment Programme, and the National Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection Ð have been working on the initiative as Intersun, an umbrella organisation.
ÔVery simple and inexpensive protection measures, such as wearing a shirt, hat, sunglasses and sunscreen and seeking shade during midday hours can significantly reduce the risk of these conditions,Õ said a spokesman for Intersun. ÔSuch measures could eliminate up to 70 per cent of skin cancers in several countries.Õ
Sun exposure may also be responsible for more than two million cases of blindness due to cataracts worldwide.
u The Global Solar UV Index Ð A Practical Guide booklet is available to download in pdf form, by going to www.who.int/peh- uv/info.htm and viewing under ÔpublicationsÕ.