MEDIA RELEASE
Optometry Giving Sight invites all members of the Optometric profession and industry to join them in support of Our Children’s Vision, a global campaign helping to ensure that every child, everywhere, has access to the eye care they need.
’Eighty per cent of what a child learns is processed through their visual system, so it's critical that every child can see clearly,’ Clive Miller, CEO of Optometry Giving Sight, a global supporter of the campaign, said
‘To learn at school, every child needs to be able to see their texts and lessons on the board or screen. To develop relationships with their peers, they need to be able to see faces and play safely. To take in the world around them – they use their eyes.’
There are millions of children around the world who are needlessly vision impaired. The rate of myopia is also increasing rapidly, and could affect five billion people by the year 2050.
‘Remarkably, it is not standard practice in most countries for children to have a comprehensive eye exam when they start school,’ Mr Miller said.
‘Failure to diagnose or treat vision issues can impact a child’s life forever, and create an extraordinary economic cost to the community.’
Since launching in April 2016, Our Children’s Vision has reached ten million children. This includes four million children in Mexico, who were given an eye exam as part of the Ver Bien See Well to Learn Better program which is part funded by Optometry Giving Sight.
The benefits of this program were succinctly summarised by Alyssa, a young girl who knew she would be unable to achieve her dreams without proper vision correction. Now that she has her glasses, she said: ‘Nothing can stop me now.’
Optometrists who would like to join us in our efforts to help more children like Alyssa can do so by:
- making a small donation for every pair of glasses or frames sold over the next 2 months
- inviting your patients to make a $5 donation by texting EYES to 0437 371 371.
Members of industry are invited to support the campaign by:
- making a company donation or contacting Optometry Giving Sightto discuss CRM and project funding opportunities
- inviting your staff to make a $5 donation by texting EYES to 0437 371 371.
To view our promotional and social media materials, register your practice or company participation, or to make an online donation, please registeror go to visit our website, pull down the Giving tab and click on Our Children’s Vision Register.
Ends
Media contact
Jane Body
1300 88 10 73
About Optometry Giving Sight
Optometry Giving Sight is the only global fundraising initiative that specifically targets the prevention of blindness and impaired vision due to uncorrected refractive error (URE) – simply the need for an eye examination and glasses. It was established in 2003 by the Brien Holden Vision Institute, World Council of Optometry, and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness as a means of mobilizing support from the global eye care profession and industry to help eliminate the backlog of people who are needlessly blind or vision impaired – currently estimated at more than 600 million worldwide. It is a registered charity in the USA, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Ireland, and Italy. In the UK we work in partnership with Vision Aid Overseas.
About Our Children’s Vision
Our Children’s Vision is an initiative of the Brien Holden Vision Institute and Essilor Vision for Life. It is supported by 63 partners who together, aim to ensure that 50 million children gain access to the eye care they need by 2020; that eye health programs are integrated into school health programs, and that there is increased awareness of the risk of myopia on children’s vision.