Message from the Chair CEO Ebulletinaugust 2014

Message from the Chair CEO eBulletinAugust 2014

Video Transcript

I’ve been chair of Vision 2020 for just over a year having taken over from the tremendous Barry Jones.

Has a special place in all of our hearts I know.

Vision 2020 does a great job. I’ve had the opportunity to visit a number of the organisations and look at some of the work that is done overseas and it is very very impressive.

I think the real highlight of my first year is the Australian Government funding for the National Eye Health Survey.

The money was given first by Minister Dutton and then secondly by Minister Ley.

This is really really important work.

You know it will never make the front page of the papers or be on the six o’clock news because it is just not that exciting for the world at large.

The most important thing is that it will give us, in Australia, a benchmark against which we can judge our achievements in reducing avoidable blindness and helping those with vision impairment.

That is really important.

And while I’m dishing out big ticks to the Federal Government let me give another one to Minister Ley.

Special funding for coordination of services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples eye health care is vitally important.

We need to close that gap and we can close that gap.

Of course we can’t do it without extra funding and we are very grateful for that funding.

Coordination between services means that the money that is spent is spent much much more effectively.

It is also pleasing to see at the recent rural health conference that eye health care was in the top ten policy recommendations.

Very good to have people focussing on the need to look at eye health care and the consequences of your eyes not being in very good shape.

And while we’re giving ticks lets move to the Victorian Government for their assistance to our Vision Initiative, we thank them very much. It is a great initiative rolling out across Victoria.

Well you wouldn’t expect the news to be all positive and it isn’t.

Sadly the Vision 2020 global initiative for working in the Asia-Pacific region on blindness and eye health care, vision impairment assistance wasn’t refunded in the recent DFAT budget.

That’s very bad news, we’ve been doing tremendous work in the Asia-Pacific region.

If you are vision impaired in a first world country it’s hard enough, in the third world country it’s even harder.

So vision impairment is especially important, it’s a driver of intergenerational poverty and we think a really important aspect to be considered in the next aid budget.

Anyway we’ll keep working on it, we won’t give up.

And finally, 8 October is World Sight Day.

That’s a great opportunity for the sector to come together and help everyone else realise the consequences of blindness or vision impairment.

It is a really important aspect.

If you wear glasses just focus for that day on what it would be like to live life without them and try to get someone who doesn’t wear glasses to understand.

Thanks very much.