With children going back to school in September and spending more time on digital devices than ever before, we're urging parents to book eye tests for their children as soon as possible.
The YouGov poll of 2,025 adults across Britain, 373 of them parents with children under 18 years of age, was commissioned by Orbis UK - the international eye health charity. Over half (54%) of parents admit they have not attempted to book an appointment for their children since the pandemic, while almost a quarter of parents (24%) are not sure if their child’s eye- sight has got worse in this time.
The poll marks the two-year anniversary of its See My Future UK Aid Match appeal which works to fight avoidable blindness amongst children in Nepal. While the findings reveal a need for action on eye health in Great Britain, the situation is especially stark for those living in parts of the world with little access to eye healthcare.
Globally 1.1 billion people experience vision loss and 90% of it is avoidable. Most of these people live in low-to-middle income countries such as Nepal, where avoidable vision loss means children are dropping out of school – either because their own eye health is poor, or to care for a blind or visually impaired family member.
The Orbis REACH (Refractive Error Among Children) initiative, partially funded by the UK government through UK Aid Match, works in the remote areas of Parsa and Siraha in Southeast Nepal. Eye health workers screen and treat children with vision loss, enabling them to continue to attend school and look forward to a brighter future.