Increase in sight loss with an ageing population
The Vision Impaired Service Providers Alliance (VISPA www.vispa.ie), of which NCBI is a member, produced a report entitled “Eyes on the Future” (2008) , which provides vital new information about sight loss and ageing in Ireland. The main findings and key messages of this report, which relate to the development of an Irish National Positive Ageing Strategy, are outlined below.
There are more than 14,400 people who are blind or vision impaired known to NCBI and of this figure, just over 60% are over 65-years-of-age. However, these figures appear to underestimate the true extent of blindness by approximately 30-40%. There may be a further 4,000 to 5,000 people throughout the country that have significant difficulties with their eyesight but, for a variety of reasons, have either not been identified, or sought out the services that are available to them.
In fact, about 30,000 adults in Ireland are currently living with significant sight loss as a result of not having the appropriate spectacle correction. This is most likely due to the lack of awareness of the importance of regular eye exams.
According to Eyes on the Future, the number of blind people in the Republic of Ireland (using World Health Organisation definitions) aged 55 years and over is likely to increase by 170% between 2006 and 2031. The increase in the number of people who are vision impaired for the same period is estimated at 180%.