New NASEM Report on Public Health Approaches to Reduce Vision Impairment | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

New NASEM Report on Public Health Approaches to Reduce Vision Impairment

Making Eye Health a Population Health Imperative: Vision for Tomorrow : Health and Medicine Division

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), previously known as the Institute of Medicine (IOM), has released a new report titled Making Eye Health a Population Health Imperative: Vision for Tomorrow. The report notes, “Avoidable vision impairment occurs too frequently in the United States and is the logical result of a series of outdated assumptions, missed opportunities, and manifold shortfalls in public health policy and health care delivery.” This report provides a population health approach to improve vision and eye health and increase health equity, and it identifies nine recommendations to guide science, policy, and interventions at the federal, state, and local levels.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s Vision Health Initiative (VHI) collaborates with state and national partners to improve eye health, reduce vision loss and blindness, control eye disease and eye injury, and promote the health of people with vision loss. As one of the key sponsors of this landmark NASEM report, CDC will evaluate how the recommendations can be incorporated into VHI activities and will work with partners to achieve the goal of improving eye and vision health.