New Zealand’s first Children’s Eye Health Campaign, run by Eye Health Aotearoa (EHA), concluded on World Sight Day, 10 October.
The campaign was fun, well-supported and engaged students across New Zealand’s intermediate schools, said Inhae Park, EHA trustee and council member of the New Zealand Association of Optometrists. “It was a successful campaign, reaching a wide audience with important messages on how children can take care of their eyes. Eye Health Aotearoa is looking to build on this campaign next year.”
Aiming to raise awareness and educate children on the behavioural changes they could make to reduce the risk of myopia, EHA developed key messages following a review of the literature, liaising with eyecare professionals and consulting the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) knowledge hub, she said. The resources developed for the Children’s Eye Health Campaign, both digital and printed, contributed greatly to the overall success, Park said. “These resources, translated into te reo Māori, Samoan and Mandarin, were also utilised on World Sight Day when EHA collaborated with Auckland’s libraries to raise awareness of the importance of looking after your eyes at all stages of life.”
