Health People 2010

Healthy People 2010 (HP 2010) for the first time included a chapter on vision as well as hearing. HP 2010 is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It identifies the most significant threats to health and establishes national goals to reduce those threats.

Chapter 28 of Healthy People 2010 assert the national goal to "improve the visual and hearing health of the nation through prevention, early detection, treatment, and rehabilitation." Vision objectives include increasing the proportion of people who have regular dilated eye examinations and increasing the proportion of children aged 5 years and younger who have vision screenings. Healthy People 2010 also proposes to reduce visual impairment as a result of refractive errors and to reduce blindness and vision impairment among children aged 17 years and younger. The chapter calls visual impairment "one of the 10 most frequent causes of disability in America," discusses the importance of vision rehabilitation, and addresses visual impairment due to diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, cataract, and refractive error, saying that "visual impairment is associated with loss of personal independence, decreased quality of life, and difficulty maintaining employment. For older adults, visual problems have a pronounced negative impact on quality of life, equivalent to that of life-threatening conditions such as heart disease and cancer."

Healthy People 2010 Vision Objectives

28-1: Increase the proportion of persons who have a dilated eye examination at appropriate intervals

28-2: Increase the proportion of preschool children aged 5 years and younger who receive vision screening

28-3: Reduce uncorrected visual impairment due to refractive errors

28-4: Reduce blindness and visual impairment in children and adolescents aged 17 years and younger

28-5: Reduce visual impairment due to diabetic retinopathy

28-6: Reduce visual impairment due to glaucoma

28-7: Reduce visual impairment due to cataract

28-8: Reduce occupational eye injury

28-9: Increase the use of appropriate personal protective eyewear in recreational activities and hazardous situations around the home

28-10: Increase vision rehabilitation

Healthy People 2020 Vision Objectives

In Healthy People 2020, National Eye Institute serves as the lead agency for the vision objectives. CDC /VHI serves on the Healthy People 2020 Vision Work Group to assist in setting up the direction for eye health and safety for the next decade. The work will continue building on the success of Healthy People 2010 and continue the efforts to make vision and eye health a health priority.

http://www.nei.nih.gov/healthyvision/progress.asp

References

Healthy People 2010 Healthy Vision National Eye Institute

Healthy People 2020