Indigenous eye health to receive $6.6m boost over four years

Vision 2020 Australia has welcomed the funding announcent to improve eye care coordination, national oversight and trachoma health promotion activities over the next four year, its chief executive officer, Ms Jennifer Gersbeck, saying she is pleased the government had recognised the importance of good vision for social, educational and ployment participation of indigenous Australians.
“Blindness rates in indigenous people are unacceptable,” Ms Gersbeck said. “Currently blindness in indigenous adults is six times the rate of non-indigenous Australians with vision loss rates three times higher,” Ms Gersebeck said.
The new funding will support eye-care coordination to make sure patients are receiving the care they need and to monitor progress across the country. It will also help eliminate the blinding eye condition trachoma which is still endic in some rote indigenous communities.
Ms Gersbeck said the funding was a direct result of a collaborative sector proposal which was submitted to the assistant health minister Ms Fiona Nash earlier this year outlining eight key recommendations to close the gap in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander eye health and vision care.
“Coordination and oversight is key to making the syst work more effectively and efficiently and will enable us to identify where the shortfalls are in the syst,” Ms Nash said.
Ms Gersbeck praised the work of the eye-health and vision-care sector which came together to develop the proposal.
“Significant work has been done by the sector to improve service planning and delivery and this funding increase takes us one step further in helping to improve the eye health of indigenous Australians.”