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Protecting vision vital as Asia’s population ages

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    • In her modest house in Central Vietnam’s Quang Nam province, 82-year-old Tran Thi Den dotes over her eight grandchildren and two great grandchildren, regularly visits neighbours in the village and connects with friends through an Inter-generational Self-help club that meets every month. But lately, worsening vision has started to chip away at her independence. “About one year ago, I started to have problems with blurry vision,” she said. And after a recent fall, Den started using a walking stick. At home, she struggles to plug in electrical appliances and can’t see what she’s cooking in the dark, smokey kitchen. She has lived alone for the last 45 years and is not ready to give up her independence. A vision screening organised by The Fred Hollows Foundation, Quang Nam Eye Hospital and the Association of Older People and the local community workers helped get her to the screening. At the vision screening, 174 people were screened for eye conditions with 54 referred for cataract surgery. Dr Luong Ming Tu noticed that Den has cataract in both eyes and was scheduled for surgery the next day at Quang Nam Eye Hospital. She was hesitant to undergo surgery because she feared her eyeballs would be removed. But Dr Luong carefully explained that the simple and safe surgery would remove the cataract and replace it with an intraocular lens. A few days later Den attended the self-help club’s monthly meeting. “I said to my friends that my eye is clearer now – I’m very happy with my surgery. Now I’d like to visit my neighbours and my grandchildren.” NB: Tran Thi Den returned to Quang Nam Eye Hospital on 29 June for surgery on her second eye. This surgery was supported by a different donor.

    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.”

    In her modest house in Central Vietnam’s Quang Nam province, 82-year-old Tran Thi Den dotes on her eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren regularly visits neighbors in the village, and connects with friends through an Inter-generational Self-help club that meets every month. But lately, worsening vision has started to chip away at her independence. A vision screening organized by The Fred Hollows Foundation, Quang Nam Eye Hospital, the Association of Older People, and the local community workers helped get her to the screening. 

    “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

     

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