BEATING THE UK MYOPIA EPIDEMIC
Let’s help our children see better,live better and decrease their risks of future eye disease
2022 TARGETS
1 million actual parent-ECP myopia conversations
UK ECPs to identify issues with delivering myopia care
Government commitment to create a UK Myopia Strategy
JOIN THE BIG UK MYOPIA CONVERSATION
“As a parent, I was never given a Myopia Chat by our optician. If I could turn back time and have had one, my son’s sight, and life, would be better off now and in the future. I can’t change that, but as an industry collaboration we can help change that for other parents and children. Every day thousands of parents aren’t getting myopia chats. Let’s change that. Not ‘later’. But next year, in 2022.”
Tom Griffiths, dad, campaign originator
[CLICK HERE to read Tom’s story and find out more about the campaign]
PARENTS
PRACTITIONERS
MANUFACTURERS
GOVERNMENT
By 2050, 50% of the world is predicted to have Myopia [Source: Brian Holden]. It is described as a global ‘pandemic’ .
The UK myopia epidemic is happening now, with our children, exacerbated by increased lockdown screentime [Source Wang 14/01/21; British Journal of Ophthalmology], a tsunami that when it lands in the future will cost the UK more to fix then, than prevent now.
The UK problem
We use the colloquial term ‘short sight’ with parents, not the medical term ‘myopia’. As a result >2 million parents are unaware their children have a medical condition called myopia that is linked to eye disease, which can be managed/controlled if they start early.
Currently myopia management / control options are not available on the NHS. Many carry price tags that may prohibit lower income families, meaning stabilising myopia to give better sight and decreased risks of eye disease is currently the privilege of those who can afford it. This is not right. No child should be left behind.