[Greens-Media] World Sight Day offers opportunity to eliminate avoidable blindness and vision impairment

[Redman, Chris (Sen R. Siewert)]

9th October 2014

World Sight Day offers opportunity to eliminate avoidable blindness and vision impairment

The Australian Greens said today on World Sight Day that we could eliminate avoidable blindness and vision impairment if all Australians got regular eye checks. 

"The year's World Sight Day theme is Universal Eye Health, and the importance of ensuring everyone has access to the quality eye health and vision care they need," Senator Rachel Siewert, World Sight Day Ambassador and Australian Greens spokesperson on disability said today.

"Vision 2020 are sharing stories of Eye Health Heroes, who are working to eliminate avoidable blindness and vision impairment. Today is an important reminder of the need for increase public awareness about eye health and investment in a national eye health and vision strategy.

"Eye tests are essential for detecting the main causes of vision loss such as glaucoma, macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and cataracts. Many of these diseases are hereditary and can cause blindness in babies, teenagers and adults as well as the elderly.

"The Greens strongly support Vision 2020's call for State and Federal Governments to develop a National Framework Implementation Plan for eye health and vision care. Our policy calls for investment in an awareness-raising campaign to encourage people to have an eye examination every two years and investment in the development of a comprehensive 10 year national eye health and vision strategy. We are also supportive of stronger investments in national eye health and vision care monitoring and research.

"It is also important to remember the high rate of eye health issues among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Aboriginal adults are 6 times more likely to become blind than non-Aboriginal adults, and 94 per cent of vision loss in Aboriginal adults is preventable or treatable. Addressing this issue, such as committing to the Roadmap to Close the Gap for Vision launched by the University of Melbourne in July, is an important step that Federal and State Governments can take.

"All Australians can become Eye Health Heroes by taking it on ourselves to be proactive about our eye health and getting regular checks. This is important for spotting vision problems early, especially those conditions that develop slowly over time.

"Given that a large amount of blindness and vision loss is preventable or treatable with early detection, strong investments in this area will improve the quality of life of millions of Australians and reduce costs to our economy," Senator Siewert concluded.