National Society To Prevent Blindness

Community service/patient support - prevent blindness advocates for public policies that improve health systems nationwide and resources that ensure everyone has affordable, accessible, and quality eye care options. Current efforts include advocating for increased surveillance of vision problems, public health and prevention programming, investments in research, access to eye health care, safety in and access to effective treatments, a strengthened eye health professional workforce, and fair out-of-pocket costs. We provide patient support through education and awareness campaigns, free/low-cost eye care assistance through industry partnerships, and advocacy and support programs that empower individuals living with vision challenges and their caregivers. In addition, our affiliate system screened over 1 million children and adults nationwide for early detection of vision disorders.

Health education & training - prevent blindness serves as an education and technical assistance resource for public health professionals on areas related to eye health through direct vision program review and guidance, an annual national eye health summit, webinars, allied health education, surveillance efforts, online training and certification programs, research grants, and professional recognition awards. These activities are targeted towards eye care professionals, healthcare providers, teachers, community service providers, and social workers along with others working in the field of blindness prevention. We educated, trained or certified over 700,000 professionals and organizations last year.

Research - to support important advancements in the understanding of vision and eye health, prevent blindness mobilizes grassroots support for protecting and increasing funding for vision and eye health research through the national eye institute and the centers for disease control and prevention. Prevent blindness made more than 5,000 contacts to key policymakers last year to support vision and eye health. The prevent blindness joanne angle investigator award provides funding for research investigating public health related to eye health and safety. This research grant promotes the core mission of prevent blindness - preventing blindness and preserving sight.