There are more than 3,000 blind persons and 9,000 sight-impaired persons, including about 400 children, in Moldova at present. The given persons can study at only three education institutions and two specialized centers, the president of the Society of the Blind of Moldova Dumitru Sclifos aid at the second edition of the international conference “Poor Vision – Theory and Practice” held on October 1. “We all bear responsibility for ensuring the observance of the rights of the persons with disabilities. They also have the right to social protection. We must help them and take measures to improve their living conditions so that they benefit from the necessary social services,” Minister of Labor, Social Protection and Family Valentina Buliga said at the conference. She said that a new bill that would grantee the social protection of the blind and the persons with impaired vision is now under formulation. Igor Racu, Doctor of Psychological Sciences and vice rector of the State Pedagogical University “Ion Creanga”, said that the discussions that will be held during the three-day conference will contribute to solving serious problems concerning the education of the sight-impaired persons. Hans Welling, the president of the International Council for Education of People with Visual Impairment (ICEVI- Europe), said that steps must be taken to support these persons. The children with poor vision should study in normal schools and benefit from the same rights as all the other children. According to the data presented at the conference, every 5 seconds a person in the world goes blind and a child goes blind every minute. 80% of the cases can be prevented if the patients are treated on time. Over 100 social assistants and clinical psychologists from the Netherlands, Russia, Romania, Ukraine, Moldova, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are participating in the conference organized by the the Society of the Blind of Moldova and UPSIC, with support from ICEVI-Europe.