Lions Eye Health Program’s big year

BY EMILY WILLIAMS

Despite coming up against Covid-19, floods, and bushfires, 2022 has gone down as another huge year for the Lions Eye Health Program (LEHP).

Over the past twelve months, the 463 qualified Lions screened the eyes of 5,309 children across the country for vision impairment.

Of these, 1,172 were referred to an optometrist for a follow-up.

Image: LEHP

With one in five children having an undetected vision problem, the 132 vision screening sessions held in 2022 are invaluable to LEHP’s goal – to combat avoidable blindness.

After the program’s success in the US in the 90s, LEHP was launched in Australia in 2000 as a pilot project. Now a Category B project, more than 60% of Australian Lions Clubs have helped promote the program.

Last year, vision screenings were conducted in all Districts, with Q2 screening 2000 children.

The management team at Lions Eye Health Program are anticipating 2023 to be bigger and better!

You can learn more about the program here.