Globally the number of children with myopia is on the increase, with studies showing that increased screen time allied to a reduction in time spent outdoors have led to children being diagnosed with myopia at an earlier age than previously seen. That’s one reason why in 2021, Australian non-profit the Brien Holden Vision Institute (BHVI) relaunched Myopia Awareness Week with the theme of ‘Look after your eyes and get outside.’
Building on that theme, BHVI’s 2022 campaign calls on people to ‘Make your eye moves.’ Left uncorrected, it has been predicted that over half of the world’s population will have myopia by 2050. So the sooner that parents, health practitioners, and children themselves take action in order to either reduce the onset of myopia or to slow down myopic progression, the better.
This year’s campaign, which runs from 23rd to 28th May, therefore aims to spread awareness of the causes of childhood myopia and to demonstrate what steps can be taken in order to mitigate its impact. And with clinical evidence showing that a personal eye care plan can decrease myopia progression in children by up to 50%, that mitigation can be significant.
In launching the 2022 campaign Professor Padmaja Sankaridurg, head of the myopia programme at BHVI, commented: “The eye health of our young matters more than ever before.” We agree, and that is why we are supporting Myopia Awareness Week.
If you're a parent whose child has been diagnosed with myopia or if they are struggling with their distance vision, we hope you found Myopia Focus helpful. Please join our community or sign our petition to get the government and NHS to recognise myopia as an ocular disease/serious ocular condition and fund myopia management for children.