All in favour Say Eye

Vision for everyone... everywhere? All those in favour Say Eye

If vision for everyone... everywhere, is something you’d like to see, then Say Eye and join thousands of other people across the globe who are offering their support for the development of eye care worldwide.

We know 640 million people around the world are avoidably vision impaired or blind because they don’t have access to eye care. That’s 10 per cent of the world’s population whose vision could be improved with an eye examination and a correctly prescribed pair of glasses.

And consider this, if you are not already in need of vision correction to help you see, then sadly, at some point in your life that will change. The simple fact is that by around 45 years old, every person in the world begins to experience the need for vision correction as their eyes naturally age.

Anyone who has had problems seeing clearly can tell you – life is not easy with poor vision. School work becomes harder, and so does work, family and community life. Without good vision everyone suffers.

If you already have access to eye care then consider how it might be if, you had to live without it. Could you keep your job or safely provide for your family? Could you work? Could you go to school?

The World Health Organization tells us that vision impairment and blindness are directly linked to poverty. In the developing communities of the world, 75% of the population live on less that $2 a day. Escaping the poverty cycle is even harder for a person without good vision.

So, if you would like to help, if you are in favour of vision for everyone...everywhere, then Say Eye and start a conversation now to help raise awareness and support the hundreds of organisations, millions of individuals, communities, governments and corporations that want to see a change – that want equity in eye care access for everyone.

How do I Say Eye?

There are a lot of ways you can become involved and make a difference to millions of lives:

• Start a conversation about the gap between the need for eye care and the available access
• Share our link with your friends and family, work colleagues. Explain our story to them
• Get to know other organisations, like ours, that share a similar vision. Click here to read about our Key Supporters
• Save this page to your favourites. Visit us regularly to find out what's going on and where so you can participate locally
• Find out more about your own eyes, get an eye examination at least every two years
• If you have diabetes, learn more about why you need to get your eyes examined more regularly
• Remind friends, family members and work colleagues to get their eye examined
• Visit Events and offer support by sharing the page. Why not attend an event if one is local to you?
• Check out the Be Involved section and find out more about Working in the Field for the Foundation
• Consider donating on a regular basis to support the work we do
• Subscribe in the black section at the bottom of this page to receive our eNewsletter

If you live in a remote or developing community and you don’t know how to access eye care, see a doctor or visiting health care worker and find out where the nearest access to eye care is located.

It’s up to you, we need your help – if you are in favour of vision for everyone... everywhere then it’s time to Say Eye now. It only takes a second and think of how many lives you could help!

Why Say Eye?

Say Eye campaign aims to raise awareness for the millions of people in developing communities whose lives could change dramatically with a simple eye exam and pair of glasses. Many of us take this simple health service for granted and don't realise in many communities it simply doesn't exist. Some people may need a referral for further vision care but for the majority, its often a simple solution.

Poor vision affects the ability of children to receive an education and their parents to work. The cost to the global economy in lost productivity, for distance vision alone has been estimated at a staggering US$269 billion each year. This does not include the cost of vision loss related to uncorrected presbyopia which affects more than 517 million people. Visit our Global Eye care page to read more.
 
Unfortunately the lack of trained eye care professionals and workable infrastruture in many communities, is the biggest impediment to providing eye care for the enormous and expanding need of the population. It is this all too common situtation that the Foundation is trying to change through the Say Eye campaign and your involvement in our online community.

The Say Eye campaign is a way of everyone, everywhere getting involved. Anyone can add support by simply joining our online community and clicking on Say Eye to find out how to become involved.

Our focus is to raise awareness and support to:

• Inform communities about caring for their eyes and how to get help, where services already exist
• Advocate for development of eye care services and education to provide sustainable access for all people
• Collaborate with governments and supporters to build the infrastructure to develop sustainable systems
• Negotiate and build local partnerships to develop sustainable services and retain the resources needed long term
• Educate eye care personnel, optometrists and other health care workers to provide ongoing local eye care services
• Train qualified trainers to teach educators to ensure services are delivered sustainably for generations to come
• Innovate, research and develop in collaboration with the best scientists and researchers new solutions for the simplest and most common eye care problems

Online support

Just being online and sharing our story is a great way to help. The more people that know about this global issue, the more support we have to finding sustainable solutions.

If you would like to join our online community simply fill  in your name and email address in the black section at the bottom of this page, and click subscribe. We’ll keep you up-to-date with what’s happening around the world. We’ll tell you all about new initiatives and scientific developments as well as share some amazing and often touching stories from the global communities we support, often showing how good vision can change the life of not just a family, but an entire community.

We will feature where there are events around the world and let you know how you can help whether you are on the ground, just on your laptop or phone at home. Why not browse the events page now?

Our commitment

The Brien Holden Vision Institute Foundation aims to drive, collaborate, innovate, educate, advocate and negotiate what is needed so that these hundreds of millions, even billions, of people worldwide can enjoy the right to sight. Visit our Who we are section to find out more about us.

From underserved metropolitan suburbs to regional and remote communities in 54 countries around the world the Foundation extends eye care globally. To read more about our global programs visit Where we work.

If you are in favour of vision for everyone... everywhere, Say Eye and join our community. Share a story, tell a friend, become a volunteer, connect with the rest of our global community on Twitter, Facebook or sign up below to receive our eNewsletters.