It’s time to stop the crisis of preventable blindness. Currently, 1.2 million Canadians are blind, deaf-blind, or partially-sighted, and the number of Canadians living with vision loss is growing every day. Over eight million (that’s one in five) Canadians are living with an eye disease that puts them at significant risk of blindness. However, 75 percent of vision loss cases are preventable with early diagnosis and access to treatment. That’s why more education about eye health is required for Canadians. It’s in our power to end this crisis of preventable vision loss, and we must act now.
The Canadian government’s lack of attention on eye health and vision care is having profound implications for individuals, communities, the economy, and our health care system. Prevention of vision loss requires a coordinated effort on the part of governments, individuals, and the health care system. An initiative of this sort should be based on a national vision health plan, one that incorporates a vision desk dedicated to vision health at the Public Health Agency of Canada. It should also be supported by a substantial increase in funding for vision health research.
Prevention of vision loss requires a coordinated effort on the part of governments, individuals, and the health care system.
The Government of Canada has stood four times before World Health Assemblies — in 2003, 2013, and twice in 2020 — voting to deliver a national vision health plan. More recently, for a fifth time on July 23, 2021, at the UN General Assembly, the Trudeau government, along with 193 countries, unanimously supported a motion calling for “Vision Care for Everyone by 2030.”
We urge the government to keep its long-overdue promise and to develop a comprehensive national plan for vision health in Canada.
The time to act is now. Sign the petition today at STOPVisionLoss.ca. Let’s stop the crisis of preventable vision loss and blindness.
The vision loss community and its stakeholders stand ready to assist in developing this national vision health plan.
