To accommodate everybody's needs and to maximize global and local awareness efforts in the best interest of glaucoma patients , the WGA and WGPA decided to supplement the World Glaucoma Day with a "Glaucoma Awareness Week": The DAY will always be on March 12, whereas the WEEK will cover the 7-day period from Sunday to Saturday that includes March 12. Thus, the next two Glaucoma Awareness Weeks will be March 7-13, 2010 and March 6-12, 2011.
In creating the "Week", the intention was neither to antagonize, nor to replace the "Day" (hence the slightly different names). On the contrary, the Week will add the required flexibility for event organizers to plan their activities on the day that fits best any local habits or constraints, while not seen as departing from the global Day. At the same time, the advantage remains of an annual recurrence of the Day on March 12, as a focal point of undiluted attention for activities like public proclamations or media coverage, as is customary for several other diseases.
