A New Zealand Income Insurance Scheme.

This is an opportunity to have your say by participating in the consultation about the proposed scheme.

Guide Dog Handlers are now empowered by a new tool to report access barriers within their community!

[Dan Shepherd and guide dog navigating rubbish bin]

A new report from Vision Research International shows the total costs of vision loss in New Zealand, including the total for lost well-being has increased to $3.74 billion in 2021, an increase of 33.6% since 2009. The economic and financial cost alone has escalated to $765 million over the past 12 years – an increase of 91.2%.

Eye Health Aotearoa Trust is New Zealand’s peak advocacy body on eye health and vision care. Our vision is for accessible, comprehensive eye health services for all New Zealanders. Our mission is to partner with Government to reform the New Zealand eye health system to prevent avoidable blindness.

As the Chief Executive of Blind Low Vision NZ, John Mulka knows that vision loss can have a devastating impact on thousands of lives. Not only those experiencing vision loss, but those who love and care about them. John said,

“Our research shows that people with vision loss are far less likely to be employed, three times as likely to experience clinical depression and twice as likely to fall.”

During the 2017 election campaign, New Zealand First leader, and soon-to-be deputy prime minister, Winston Peters promised to provide free eye health tests for the over 65s. Nearly $13 million, rising to $61.7 million a year from 2021/22, was earmarked as part of the health allocation in the 2020 budget, but little detail and no start date were given.

[Story by Drew Jones. Originally published at Eye On Optics www.nzoptics.co.nz/articles/archive/free-eye-checks-peeling-back-a-broken-promise/# ]

A paper presented at "Thinking Through Books" the 2012 conference of the Bibliographical Society of Australia and New Zealand, 14-17 November, Dunedin NZ.

On 20 December 2009 I was reading in bed when my left eye went blurry. "Time to put the light out," I thought.

Next morning it was still blurry. I had lost the central vision in my left eye, suddenly and permanently. Then the vision in my right eye began to deteriorate.

Mary Fisher navigates the world differently. She has aniridia, a degenerative genetic condition primarily affecting her sight. With a little help from friends at the Department of Conservation (DOC), she’s been able to experience nature and the environment in a new, more engaging way.

The Eye Health Aotearoa Trust (EHA) is adding its voice to the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness’ (IAPB) call for improved eye health for all. EHA is proud to join IAPB, the overarching alliance for the global eye care sector as they are already supporting EHA’s efforts to improve New Zealanders’ access to quality and equitable eye health services.

60,000 people in NZ are living with glaucoma but don’t know it. This poses a risk to them, and others, as they are more likely to have falls or accidents due to what Ophthalmologists describe as ‘negative sight’.

The aging population, heart disease & diabetes numbers on the rise in NZ makes Glaucoma NZ’s annual symposium extremely timely. It is a unique opportunity to learn from a panel of medical experts on an eye disease impacting more than 115,000 Kiwis, with another 60,000 people unaware they are living with it.

Tens of thousands of New Zealanders with diabetes are missing out on free health checks that could save their eyesight, writes Nicholas Jones. Imagine the terror of waking to find yourself completely blind. When it happened to Anne Niulesa, she scrambled to find some light.

[Story by Nicholas Jones. Originally published in the Weekend Herald, 3 April 2021]