THE EYE health and aging sectors are meeting in Manila this week to discuss ways of protecting the vision of a rapidly aging population in Asia.
The two-day meeting, convened by The Fred Hollows Foundation and International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB), is supported by the Australia-ASEAN Council and the Australia NGO Cooperation Program.
The Fred Hollows Foundation Healthy Ageing Senior Advisor Dr. Vânia de la Fuente-Núñez said close collaboration between the eye health and aging sectors was a critical first step to advancing healthy aging in the region.
“Of the one billion older people in the world in 2020, more than half live in Asia and the Pacific. By 2050, one in four people in Asia and the Pacific will be aged over 60 years, reaching close to a population of 1.3 billion.”
“In some countries, this transition is happening very rapidly, meaning countries will have to adapt very quickly.”
“This demographic transition will raise a wide range of social and economic considerations from the way cities and communities are built and organized to how services are designed and delivered, including eye health care.”
“While many eye conditions become more prevalent as people age, blindness is not inevitable in later life.”
“Today, about 73 percent of people – amounting to about 800 million people globally – who are living with avoidable vision loss are older people. This number will increase as the population ages, reaching 1.28 billion people by 2050 if no action is taken.”
“By bringing together key stakeholders in the eye health and aging sectors across Asia and Australia, we can improve our knowledge on the eye health of older people in the region, identify successful programs to deliver eye care through integrated models, and collaborate to preserve and protect vision in older age,” she said.
The Fred Hollows Foundation is playing a leading role in recognizing vision as a key part of overall health in the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021-2030).
Last year, The Foundation and the International Federation of Ageing (IFA) released the Connecting Healthy Ageing and Vision report which proposes key actions within and beyond the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing to ensure that older people’s eye health and quality of life are protected and preserved.
The Connecting Healthy Ageing and Vision report can be accessed at https://www.hollows.org/au/latest/healthy-ageing
