MEDIA RELEASE
- 94% of vision loss in Aboriginal communities is preventable or treatable1
- Diabetes related blindness in Aboriginal Australians is 14 times higher than in non-Indigenous populations1
These alarming statistics motivated action over the last five years 2010-2015, instigating collaborative work through a program funded by the Vision Cooperative Research Centre (Vision CRC). Brien Holden Vision Institute has been lead collaborator for the Vision CRC research project,Models of Vision Care Delivery for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities.
WHAT DID WE SET OUT TO ACHIEVE?
Building on current evidence and guidelines for Indigenous eye care for Aboriginal Australians, the team worked collaboratively with Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services to identify the most practical and workable solutions to improve access and uptake of eye care in ‘real-life’ settings.
This project has been successful in developing useful and practical solutions to achieve sustainable improvements in eye care services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. For further information about the project achievements, please follow the live link to the final summary report: Vision for Every Australian, Everywhere: Eye care for Indigenous Australia: http://www.brienholdenvision.org/visioncrc/vision_for_australia.pdf
The solutions and approaches developed during the project have shown in working demonstration that they are practical, translatable and scalable. One of the leading solutions developed during the project is the Eye and Vision Care Toolkit which is now live on our website on this link: https://academy.brienholdenvision.org/browse/resources/courses/eye-toolkit
The impact measured within just two years of health workers following the Toolkit were really encouraging. By 'Toolkit', we mean a practical and simple set of approaches health services can use to help improve eye care for the Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander communities with whom they work. This includes:
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Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) tools
Regional eye care planning tools
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Education and training resources to aid skill levels
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Guidance on understanding patient and community perspectives
Media Contact
Selina Madeleine, Global Communications Manager, Public Health, +61 414 071 149, s.madeleine@brienholdenvision.org
1: Taylor, HR, J Xie, S Fox, RA Dunn, AL Arnold and JE Keeffe. ‘The Prevalence and Causes of Vision Loss in Indigenous Australians: The National Indigenous Eye Health Survey’. Medical Journal of Australia 192, (2010): 312–318.