Hardly a week goes by that doesn't have a tag of some sort. This week, for those of you who don't know, is Age-Related Macular Degeneration Week and of all the 'weeks' has probably generated the most coverage and profile.
It is truly amazing that in this day and age so few people are aware of AMD. The Royal National Institute of the Blind estimates that 400,000 people may have the condition and each year that total is bolstered by a further 26,000 sufferers across the UK.
The AMD Alliance report, Left to Pay Their Own Way, published on Wednesday highlights how little help sufferers get from their primary care trusts despite the development of drugs specifically to slowdown the progression of AMD.
The RNIB estimates that 90 per cent of patients are left to fund their own treatment, or go blind.
The kind of profile achieved by the RNIB and the AMD Alliance in Parliament on Wednesday (see News) got the kind of press coverage money can't buy but we have been here before. Those aware of AMD are those who already have the condition and it seems even the medical profession sidelines sufferers.
From a communication point of view, Optician would suggest that the biggest barrier to making the public understand AMD is the terminology that surrounds it. Age-related macular degeneration doesn't trip of anyone's tongue and the medical profession seems to view it as inevitable old-age vision loss.
The key players in communicating to both audiences are optometrists. Their contact with the public puts them in an ideal position to communicate the condition in simple language. But optometrists' clinical skills mean they can also educate upward to GPs that age-related blindness doesn't have to be inevitable.