Campaigns
Open Your Eyes - campaigning for an end to needless blindness
Summary: Two million people in the UK are at risk of needlessly losing their sight.
Thousands of people in the UK are needlessly losing their sight every year through treatable conditions like glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy. Thousands more are living with sight loss because they are simply wearing the wrong glasses or not seeking treatment for cataracts.
We are campaigning to bring an end to preventable sight loss in the UK by 2020.
Latest news
Starting in Spring 2007 the Open Your Eyes shopping centre tour will visit a further seven cities across the UK to provide information on eye health and the importance of regular eye test.
Facts and figures
A new RNIB report, Open Your Eyes, reveals that more than two million people in the UK are at risk of needlessly losing their sight. It also shows that more than half of all sight loss is avoidable. Unknowingly 1.9 million people with diabetes who aren't having regular eye tests and 250,000 people with early-stage glaucoma are at high risk of losing their sight.
Our report clearly shows that few people understand that eye tests are important because they identify potentially blinding conditions. Most respondants gave the reason for not having an eye test as "they didn't have a problem with their eyes".
In addition a further half a million people in the UK are needlessly living with sight loss by not seeking treatment for cataracts (a routine operation that is successful in 90 per cent of cases) or by simply wearing the wrong prescription glasses.
Steve Winyard, RNIB’s Head of Campaigns: “Ignorance is quietly robbing people of their sight every day. Unless action is taken now, thousands of people in the UK will this year needlessly lose their sight from conditions that could be treated if caught early. The Government needs to act now as the situation is going to get much worse with the explosion in the numbers of people with diabetes and as a result of the ageing of our population.”
About the campaign
Nine out of ten people fear losing their sight above any other sense but one in three still failed to have an eye test in the last two years.
We call on the Government to invest in a large-scale eye health awareness campaign, improved community and hospital eye services and improved support for those who have experienced sight loss.
The Open Your Eyes campaign was launched at an event in the Houses of Parliament on 24 January 2006.
RNIB's Open Your Eyes campaign is generously supported by The Pears Foundation.
What you can do
- Have an eye test - book a vital health check for your eyes today.
- Campaign for us - find out about what we are campaigning for and write to your MP.
- read comments from other people and add your own.
- Send an eCard - tell someone about the importance of having an eye test.
- Read the report - our research findings and recommendations for tackling avoidable sight loss plus statistics about the number of people with sight problems in the UK and how the totals were reached.
- Make a donation - help support our vital work.
Information for journalists
An Open Your Eyes press release has been prepared. Please contact the press office for further information about the campaign.
Content author: campaigns@rnib.org.uk
Last updated: 06/03/2008 15:41
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Jenny's story - Jenny Burgess volunteered for a disability support group run by people with physical disabilities. She was the only staff member with a sight problem. “I depended on a colleague with physical disabilities to give me a lift to work. I have far greater mobility problems than most people with physical disabilities who can drive a car, yet receive less benefit - it’s unfair and unjust.” Join our campaign to make the mobility component of the Disability Living Allowance fair - taken for a ride.
