Blindness – a great leveller
Media Advisory
20 February
Dame Judi Dench is the latest public figure to announce she has macular degeneration. In New Zealand one in seven people over 50 years old is affected by age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
There are approximately 25,000 Kiwi's affected with the severe form of wet AMD, with up to 800 new cases per year. In fact, almost 40% of the members of the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind (RNZFB) - New Zealand's main provider of sight loss services - have AMD.
In-line with international predictions and an ageing population, the prevalence of visual impairment from AMD will almost double over the next 20 years.
However, New Zealand is one of the few countries in the developed world without a national plan or budget to present vision loss.
In 2002, the New Zealand Government signed up to support the World Health Organization's VISION 2020 initiative to eliminate avoidable blindness by 2020. With less than 10 years to go, there is not yet a coordinated effort to achieve this goal.
"People living with AMD need and deserve to be heard by policy makers: this is a generation of people who need support", says Jeanine Gribbin, General Manager, Macular Degeneration New Zealand (MDNZ).
RNZFB Chief Executive and MDNZ Board member, Sandra Budd, says: "Most vision loss is correctable, preventable or treatable and we implore New Zealanders to seek advice early."
MDNZ is hosting a free seminar on Saturday 21 April 2012, starting at 10am, at the Waipuna Lodge, Auckland, to share information on new advances in research, treatment and management of age-related macular degeneration. The seminar is the first in a series that MDNZ will undertake nationally, and is designed to give the audience an update on research and treatment.
Visit www.mdnz.co.nz or www.rnzfb.org.nz for more information about blindness.
- ENDS
For more information, including details of the free seminar, please contact
Jeanine Gribbin, General Manager MDNZ, Jeanine@mdnz.co.nz or 021 0311662
Kerry Bothwell, Communications Manager, RNZFB, kbothwell@rnzfb.org.nz, or 09 355 6923
Notes to Editors
Macular Degeneration NZ
MDNZ was formed as a charitable trust in January 2009 to increase awareness and reduce the incidence of Macular Degeneration (MD) in New Zealand. Approximately one person in three in New Zealand over the age of 80 years and about one in seven over the age of 50 years, are affected by MD.
Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind
The RNZFB is New Zealand's main provider of sight loss services to blind and partially sighted people. It has more than 11,500 blind and partially sighted members nationwide. Every day three blind or partially sighted New Zealanders sign up as members of the RNZFB.
