Why there is a need for LEHP

The prevalence of eye disease in Australia continues to grow. Communities need to be educated regarding preventable eye disease and the importance of regular eye examinations. Too many Australians are living with vision loss and blindness and their condition could have been avoided! The Aim of LEHP is to reduce the incidence and impact of vision loss in the Australian Community through a Lions auspiced, community based awareness and education program.

Adult Eye Health

• Nearly 575,000 Australians are vision impaired in both eyes. Which means they do not have enough sight to legally drive a motor vehicle.
• This figure could increase to 801,000 by the year 2020.
• The prevalence of vision loss trebles with each decade over 40 years. Thus as our Australian population continues to increase so do does the number of people with vision impairment.
• Three quarters of vision impairment is either avoidable or treatable.
• That is approximately 431,000 people whose quality of life has been affected by vision loss, where the loss could have been avoided.

In addition to the human and individual effects of vision loss in Australia. There is also a significant financial burden. Statistics presented by Access Economics have demonstrated that the annual hollistic cost of vision disorders in Australian is 16 billion dollars. The estimated annual costs of vision disorders in Australia, is greater than the financial costs which are associated with other health conditions such as depression, stroke, diabetes and asthma.
We also know that for the vision impaired there is a higher risk of falls and hip fractures, an increased risk of depression and social dependance and people with significant vision loss are more likely to be admitted to a nursing home much earlier than others of a similar age.

Children's Eye Health 1 in 4 children has an undetected vision problem More than 411,000 children in Australia have a long-term eye disorder Most of these are long and short sightedness Vision problems have a profound effect on a child's development including schooling and day to day activities. You can't hit the ball if you can't see it. Most children will accept vision problems and adapt to their poor vision. They rarely complain as they believe everyone sees the world like they do. All children should have a full eye examination before starting school and regularly as they progress through primary and secondary school.

Vision Impairment is a huge, vastly under-rated and overlooked problem in Australia. It is well established that prevention is most often more cost effective than treatment. Community awareness campaigns are vital to the prevention of avoidable vision loss. At the 1925 Lions Convention Helen Keller challenged Lions to make vision loss and blindness one of their key involvements. In the words of Helen Keller "will you not constitute yourselves Knights of the Blind in this crusade against darkness".

Now you understand need to establish this program and why it exists today.

The purpose of the Lions Eye Health Program is to generate community awareness and encourage regular eye examinations. The program is very easy to implement. Lions are already out in the community doing so many wonderful things and we encourage them to incorporate LEHP into their everyday activities. More about the History behind LEHP can be found at - http://www.lehp.org.au/history.html

Question 1: How much of vision impairment is either avoidable or treatable ?		Question 2: Vision impairment can lead to a higher risk of what ?		Question 3: Out of every 12 children how many have an undetected vision problem ?		Question 4: What is the best way to prevent Vision Loss ?

Two Thids	Weight Gain	4	Wear Sunglasses
Half	Social Dependance	6	Regular Eye Examinations
Three Quarters	Smoking	1	Stay Indoors
None	Back Problems	3	Use Eye Drops