Feb. 12, 2021 — Prevent Blindness is holding its 16th annual Eyes on Capitol Hill advocacy event, held virtually this year, on Wed., Feb. 24 and Thurs., Feb. 25.
The program is designed to brings together patients, caregivers, public health workers, and medical professionals with their elected officials to educate lawmakers and their staff on vision issues, including equitable access to quality eye care, health disparities in the prevalence of vision disorders, and the importance of sight-saving research and surveillance, shares the nonprofit eye health organization.
The event also serves as an opportunity to reach out to newly elected members of Congress to introduce them to critical vision advocacy initiatives, especially amid Covid-19. 
In a recent livestream with EB, Prevent Blindness president and CEO Jeff Todd shares, “It’s more important now than it’s ever been to ensure that people have access to the care that they need.”
“[Eyes on Capitol Hill] has been a terrific way to engage patients in their own care and a terrific way to let policymakers know that eye health is important,” Todd says.
In addition to sharing personal stories of the importance of healthy vision, this year’s Eyes on Capitol Hill advocates will ask elected officials to:
- Increase the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Vision Health Initiative to $5 million for vision and eye health surveillance.
- Maintain the CDC’s work in glaucoma prevention and awareness with $4 million.
- Join the bipartisan, bicameral Congressional Vision Caucus and champion vision and eye health policies in the 117th Congress.
To learn more about the organization’s recent initiatives, tune in to the livestream interview with Todd here.