CHICAGO (Dec. 18, 2009) – According to a recent research study funded by the National Center for Health Statistics, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Eye Institute (NEI), the presence of myopia, or nearsightedness, has increased significantly over the past 30 years. The data from the “Increased Prevalence of Myopia in the United States Between 1971-1972 and 1999-2004” study shows that the prevalence of myopia in those ages 12-54 in the years 1999-2004 was more than 41 percent higher than in the same age group during the years of 1971-1972.
Prevent Blindness America, the nation’s oldest volunteer eye health and safety organization, applauds the research initiative and its findings demonstrating the critical need for additional funding for public health programs addressing vision and eye health. Over the past six years Prevent Blindness America has worked in partnership with the CDC to expand the scope of its public health prevention efforts by developing and evaluating new initiatives in communities across the country. As one of many avenues to identify those in need of care, the organization and its network of affiliates and volunteers provides more than 2.5 million vision screenings for adults and children every year and helps to identify avenues for follow-up care. However, these efforts are only a small step in the needed advancements in vision and eye care.
“Our organization was founded more than 100 years ago to help to protect the precious gift of sight in newborns,” stated Prevent Blindness America’s President and CEO Hugh Parry. “More than a century later, our efforts have expanded to address vision and eye health and safety needs of all Americans. It is through prevalence research such as this that we are able to expand our understanding of the needs that our programs must be designed to address.”
One of the alarming elements of the data from the study was that it included increases in myopia among school-age children. Since so much of a child’s learning is done visually, healthy vision is critical to success in the classroom. The CDC states that more than 12.1 million school age children have some form of vision problem, yet only one in three children in America have received eye care services before the age of 6.
In 2009, the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB), a bureau of the Health Resources and Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, provided a multi-year grant to Prevent Blindness America to help establish the National Universal Vision Screening for Young Children Coordinating Center that will promote and ensure a continuum of eye care for young children within the healthcare system.
To ensure the continued support of these critical programs, Prevent Blindness America has taken an active role in advocating at both the state and federal levels for increases in funding for sight-saving programs and services.
“We are proud of our work with federal partners such as CDC and MCHB,” Parry noted. “Unfortunately, funding for such initiatives from both public and private sources continues to decline.”
For information on vision issues or to learn about how to become a vision health advocate, please contact Prevent Blindness America at (800) 331-2020 or visit preventblindness.org.
Alarming New Data Highlights the Importance of Public Health Programs for Healthy Vision and Eyes (pdf)
Founded in 1908, Prevent Blindness America is the nation's leading patient and consumer advocate dedicated to fighting blindness and saving sight. Focused on promoting a continuum of vision care, Prevent Blindness America touches the lives of millions of people each year through public and professional education, advocacy, certified vision screening and training, community and patient service programs and research. These services are made possible through the generous support of the American public. Together with a network of affiliates, divisions and chapters, it's committed to eliminating preventable blindness in America. For more information, or to make a contribution to the sight-saving fund, call 1-800-331-2020.
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