Optometry Australia (OA) is calling on the optometry and eye health sector to put their support behind the year 2020 to declare it the Year of Good Vision for Life.

OA CEO Lyn Brodie said, “With 20/20 being a well-known term often attributed to perfect vision, and good vision a key factor for living a healthy, happy life, the year 2020 represents a significant one-off opportunity to focus attention on eye health.

“Our sector is very active in raising awareness of the various eye conditions and diseases and promoting the retail aspect of optometry,” she said.

“We would like to maximise the momentum of these campaigns to unite all aspects of optometry behind the Year of Good Vision for Life theme so that we can deliver a consistent, united and powerful message to all Australians about eye health management and the need to see an optometrist regularly throughout life.

“Almost half of Australia’s population suffers from vision or eye-related health issues with evidence highlighting that 90 percent of these issues are preventable or avoidable if detected early enough”.

Optometry Australia says it is important to leverage current aligned eye health campaigns led by other organisations in the sector – such as glaucoma, macular degeneration and diabetes – and develop new creative approaches to highlight awareness of other major eye conditions and vision problems not currently addressed by existing programmes.