Children’s Eye Health Campaign

Eye Health Aotearoa Children's Eye Health Campaign 2024 Illustration ft. cartoon characters and eye chart

Good vision is crucial to a child’s ability to participate in and benefit from educational and life experiences. The visual system processes approximately 80% of what a child learns. Protecting and improving the vision of school-aged children supports education. This, in turn, leads to better health and productivity in adulthood (ref. International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness).

“Growing evidence among child populations strongly implicates lifestyle risk factors, including intensive near vision activity (as a risk factor) and longer time spent outdoors (as a protective factor), in the onset and progression of myopia during childhood. Interventions targeting these lifestyle factors therefore offer great possibilities for reducing the risk of developing high myopia and its related potential blinding complications later in life.”

A Toolkit on how to Implement MyopiaEd pg. vii

Education campaigns play a vital role in the management of myopia and its associated complications, while also raising awareness of good eye care behaviours - for example the importance of regular eye examinations - and addressing common reasons for noncompliance to spectacle-wear (ref. A Toolkit on how to Implement MyopiaEd pg. viii).

What We’ll Do

In September and October 2024, with support from the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB), Eye Health Aotearoa (EHA) will run Aotearoa New Zealand’s first Children’s Eye Health Campaign. The aim is to increase eye health education and awareness. This campaign will focus on short-sightedness (myopia). As stated by the IAPB,

“Myopia represents an important public health issue in the 21st century. Uncorrected myopia is a leading cause of vision impairment; it can contribute to poor academic performance in children.”

This campaign will take the form of distributing an engaging poster and video with key messages regarding behavioural changes children can make to reduce the risk of myopia. These resources will be distributed throughout Aotearoa New Zealand intermediate schools and supporter organisations. Co-ordinated social media messaging will also help to deliver the following key messages:

Spend time outside everyday
Less screen time – take a break
Book an eye test
Wear sunglasses
Wear your glasses if you need them
Have a healthy diet and exercise regularly

(ref. RANZCO Vision 20/20, IAPB)

The poster is translated into Māori, Samoan and Chinese.

Sensory Art Competition

In addition, EHA will hold a Sensory Art Competition in three Intermediate Schools within the Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland region. The Sensory Art Competition will incorporate the practical, creative involvement of children. There will be an emphasis on the senses (touch, smell and sound), producing art that is engaging for those with blindness or low vision, thus heightening children's awareness of these conditions and the importance of taking care of their own eyes. EHA will provide posters, educational resources and some funding for art materials, plus a prize for the winner of the competition in each school.

Specsavers will run concurrent vision screening in the participating schools.