Taylor: Indigenous more likely to go blind

(Tuesday 29 September 2009)

Professor Hugh Taylor, Harold Mitchell Chair of Indigenous Eye Health at The University of Melbourne, has found that Indigenous Australians are six times more likely to go blind than non-indigenous people.

Professor Taylor said 35 per cent of adults surveyed had never had an eye exam and that a lack of early intervention and treatment often caused deterioration.

''It is a national disgrace that more than 94 per cent of the vision loss associated with these eye diseases is preventable and treatable,'' he said.

''This survey represents the first step in 'Closing the Gap' in vision … The next step will be to review the availability and effectiveness of the current eye health services, to deliver a report within the next six months.”

(read the full story at http://www.theage.com.au/national/aborigines-more-likely-to-go-blind-20090928-g98k.html)

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