Twelve ophthalmology leaders have signed an open letter calling on the government to develop a national plan for sight loss to ensure vital eye research receives the funding it desperately requires.
The letter, published in The Guardian last week, homed in on the fact that just 1% of national research funding was currently invested in eye research, despite statistics that showed 20% of people in the UK would experience serious sight loss or blindness in their lifetime.
The prevalence of sight loss is also on the rise, said the authors of the letter, with the number of people in Europe with the leading cause of blindness, age-related macular degeneration, projected to hit 10 million by 2050.
Fight for Sight and the group of ophthalmologists described the situation as ‘shameful,’ particularly as gene therapies and stem cell treatments were already restoring sight for patients with some eye conditions at clinical trial.
The call for additional funding follows the World Health Organisation’s World Vision Report published last October, which found that more than 1bn people worldwide were living with sight loss, contributed to by a lack of investment in eye care and research. In addition, the UN General Assembly political declaration on Universal Health Coverage delivered in September 2019 identified eye health as an area that should be addressed if sustainable development goals were to be achieved.
Plan of action
Outlining its response to the situation, Fight for Sight said it would conduct a major research study during 2020 which would show the economic and personal impact of sight loss. ‘Blindness can have a huge impact on people’s mental health and ability to work, increasing costs on health systems and infrastructure. Hundreds of people with sight loss will be interviewed for the study and the research will include economic analysis, statistics and a literature review to understand the health economics of serious sight loss and blindness,’ said the charity.
The findings of the study, which are due in July 2020, will be used to lobby decision-makers and funding bodies for a national plan on sight loss. Fight for Sight issued a rallying cry to anyone who believes action should be taken to prevent more people losing their sight to join them and add their voice to the campaign.
Head of research at Fight for Sight, Dr Rubina Ahmed said: ‘It’s shameful that in 2020 so little national research funding goes to eye research, especially when science offers so many possibilities to transform lives and there are breakthroughs happening every day. We’ve seen the first gene therapies for eye diseases become available on the NHS and stem cell treatments are already restoring sight for patients at clinical trial.
‘However, the amount of funding currently is not fit for the scale of the challenge, with hundreds of eye diseases and millions of people affected globally. Science and technology have the answers, the only barrier is the funding to make it happen. We're encouraging everyone to join us and make 2020 the year urgent action is finally taken on sight loss.’