Update: Aboriginal Vision Health posters in demand....
June 2011 - The NCCAH continues to support the Vision Institute of Canada in a new poster campaign launched for 2011 Aboriginal Vision Health Awareness Year.
The need to promote eye health care for First Nations, Inuit and Métis children and adults is vital, especially when so many are living with Type II diabetes, a high risk for diabetes-related blindness
The posters are one way to spread the word encouraging awareness of the role that vision checkups can play. Organizations like the Aboriginal Nurses Association of Canada, and initiatives like the Diabetes Integration Project in Manitoba, are using these posters as part of their health promotion and prevention work.
In Ontario, the posters have been distributed in the health care units of provincial corrections facilities and youth detention centres and are being used in a School of Nursing at the University of Ottawa.
The 2011 Aboriginal Vision Health Awareness Year campaign is supported by the Assembly of First Nations, the Chiefs of Ontario and other Aboriginal organizations. Alcon Canada is covering printing and distribution of the posters as a donation to the campaign. Dr. Paul Chris, of the Vision Institute of Canada, welcomes requests for copies. He can be contacted at vicanada@look.ca.
Preventing blindness, promoting vision health
April, 2011 - New national attention to Aboriginal vision health is helping to raise awareness about the soaring rates of diabetes-related blindness facing Canada's Aboriginal populations.
The need to promote eye health care for First Nations, Inuit and Métis children and adults is vital, especially when so many are living with Type II diabetes, a high risk for diabetes-related blindness. The NCCAH is supporting the Vision Institute of Canada as it raises national awareness about this emerging health crisis through its 2011 Aboriginal Vision Health Awareness Year campaign.
Dr. Paul Chris, executive director of the Vision Institute of Canada, has been travelling the country to link with organizations like the Chiefs of Ontario; the Assembly of First Nations; Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami representing Inuit in Canada, and the Aboriginal Nurses Association.
On March 25, 2011, National Chief Shawn A-in-chut Atleo of the Assembly of First Nations, welcomed the initiative to declare 2011 Aboriginal Vision Health Awareness Year, noting that First Nations citizens with diabetes are 25 times more likely to experience vision loss and blindness than other populations. He noted that First Nations citizens also experience barriers to accessing prevention methods and vision health services. "Let this commemorative year shed much-needed education and awareness on the improvements and attention needed for the vision health of Aboriginal people in Canada," he said.
Meanwhile, a unique Aboriginal Vision Health lecture series in 2010 helped set the stage for increased awareness. A DVD of the event is now available - contact us at nccah@unbc.ca to request a copy. The NCCAH has contributed articles to a special edition of the Canadian Journal of Optometry on the links between diabetes and Aboriginal vision health, and a poster campaign is also underway. More will come as the year unfolds.
Eyes on the Prize
The Vision Institute of Canada for the first time highlighted this emerging health crisis during its October 2010 annual conference, billed as its “most important program in three decades.” About 20 per cent of the Canadian Aboriginal population lives with diabetes, a disease associated with long term complications such as blindness, heart disease, kidney disease, infectious disease and amputations. The event was co-sponsored by the Canadian Association of Optometrists and supported by the National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health (NCCAH).
Dr. Chris said a special lecture series on Aboriginal Vision Health helped educate medical professionals, Aboriginal health workers and policy makers, and provided a key opportunity for optometry to “demonstrate its concern and readiness to respond to this emerging health crisis.” He said one outcome has been the ongoing opportunity to work together with Aboriginal communities and organizations to help raise awareness of eye health in the Aboriginal population.
Lecture topics addressed issues related to the links between diabetes and eye health, the role of diet and traditional Aboriginal diets, telemedicine and remote northern communities, cultural relevance in eye examinations, and more. (View our related slideshow):
Guest speakers included Dr. Ann Macaulay, who holds the Order of Canada for her work on Aboriginal health, and Dr. Jay Wortman, MD, a Métis physician from BC featured in the documentary My Big Fat Diet. Ontario Regional Chief of the Assembly of First Nations Angus Toulouse was also a special guest, and the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network documented the conference. Dr. Jeff Reading, PhD, addressed social conditions underlying the diabetes epidemic, including the consequences of colonization, assimilation, and the loss of land and traditional livelihoods experienced by First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples in Canada. View conference program.
Dr. Chris said the Vision Institute's 2011 Aboriginal Vision Health Awareness Year is one way to support yearly comprehensive eye examinations for Aboriginal people with diabetes, particularly children.
He noted in an article published in a special edition of the Canadian Journal of Optometry that “with the disproportionate and increasing number of native people with diabetes, and its occurrence at a much earlier age than the general population, diabetes will lead to a more significant burden of preventable vision loss in Aboriginal communities than in non-Aboriginal groups.”
Canada Lags "Well Behind" Other Countries in Addressing Aboriginal Eye Health
The National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health found in a 2007 review of programs, resources and research related to preschool screening and Aboriginal eye health that Canada is “well behind other countries in addressing Aboriginal eye health and vision care services.” The NCCAH review noted that both the United States and Australia have developed innovative, Aboriginal specific, community-controlled programs and promotional material that can serve as models for improved vision and eye health care.
One of the challenges for Aboriginal populations in Canada is access to vision health services due to issues such as cost, rural and remote locations, and the availability of optometrists or ophthalmologists.
Dr. Chris said more funding and research is required to fill the gap in scientific knowledge about Aboriginal vision health. He also said that optometrists, professional organizations and partners need to work with Aboriginal peoples and their organizations to support improved education and awareness.