THREE in four Australians who are vision impaired don’t need to be.
And this month, The Eye Surgeons’ Foundation is calling for donations for research projects to help end preventable blindness.
The national not-for-profit organisation celebrates its 10th annual JulEYE eye health campaign this year.
Since 2002 the foundation has supported more than 200 eye research projects, raised in excess of $21 million for vision programs, and this year hopes to fund five promising new research projects.
Foundation chief executive Lisa Cheng said 75 per cent of Australians are vision impaired and don’t need to be.
“The other 25 per cent need cures, and the money raised will be spent on research focused on finding new answers and developing new treatments,” she said.
“It is only through continued community support and fundraising that eye surgeons and scientists can continue their world-class research to develop pioneering treatments and cures for often debilitating eye diseases.”
In Australia, more than 453,000 people are blind or vision impaired through diseases such as glaucoma, macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and rare eye conditions.
Former INXS band member and long-time JulEYE ambassador Kirk Pengilly knows first-hand the importance of eye research.
“At 27 I almost lost my sight to glaucoma – had it not been for the pioneering eye research and surgery that saved my sight, my life would have been very different,” he said.
“That’s why I support JulEYE and the vital funding it provides to develop life-changing treatments and cures for eye disease.”
