1:30min
Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital Photo: HiVis Pictures
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By Rhiannon Riches
Assistant Editor
Eye and Ear hospital redevelopment
The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital will receive funding in the 2016-2017 Victorian Budget for further redevelopment.
This initiative ensures the completion of the redevelopment including the critical removal of asbestos beyond that identified in initial planning.
The Victorian Budget also includes a grant to Vision Australia to establish an Indoor Mobility and Training Centre for vision-impaired clients to learn to use canes, mobility devices and seeing eye dogs. Modelled on an outdoor environment, the facility will support vision-impaired clients to develop orientation and mobility skills in a safe, controlled and realistic environment.
ProVision prompts public to ‘Open Your Eyes’
ProVision is urging the public not to delay getting their vision tested.
Open Your Eyes, a preventative eye-care campaign to highlight the dangers of not having a regular eye examination every two years, was launched on 14 April.
The campaign was launched in response to an Eye Health Report Card compiled by Vision 2020 that highlighted the paradox of millions of Australians rating the loss of sight as their primary health concern, but not having had their eyes tested recently.
ProVision chairman and optometrist Ian Bluntish says its goal is to reach a point where Australians understand that by being proactive they can have an impact on reducing preventable blindness.
Body fat and DR
A paper published in JAMA Ophthalmology discusses a cross-sectional study that investigated association of body fat distribution with diabetic retinopathy in an Asian population with type 2 diabetes.
The authors concluded that in Asian patients with type 2 diabetes, a higher body mass index appeared to confer a protective effect on diabetic retinopathy, while higher waist to hip ratio was associated with the presence and severity of diabetic retinopathy in women.