Recent studies show that the rate of myopia in Vietnamese children is increasing, especially in cities, with some classes having over 50% of students with myopia.
On October 7, at Hoang Dieu Primary School (Hanoi), the Central Center for Health Communication and Education (Ministry of Health) in collaboration with the Central Eye Hospital launched the Community Health Program “Healthy Eyes for a Bright Future”. This is an activity in response to World Sight Day (October 10) with the theme “Prioritizing Children’s Eye Care”.
At the launching ceremony, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Lien Huong said that in Hanoi, 51% of children have refractive errors, of which myopia accounts for 37.5%, hyperopia accounts for about 8% and astigmatism is 5%. In Ho Chi Minh City, the rate of children with refractive errors is up to more than 75%, of which the number of children with myopia accounts for nearly 53%.
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| Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Lien Huong spoke at the launching ceremony. |
These are statistics according to a survey on the status of refractive errors in children in some primary and secondary schools in 2020 in Hanoi and in 2023 in Ho Chi Minh City by the Central Eye Hospital.
Also in the past time, many children in rural, remote and isolated areas with eye diseases have been detected early and treated promptly.
“Therefore, the activity aims to spread the message about the important role of protecting healthy eyes, thereby joining hands with parents and schools in protecting and caring for children's eye health.
This program will provide free eye care for tens of thousands of students at 20 primary and preschool schools in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City,” said Deputy Minister Huong.
According to the Deputy Minister, this is a practical and meaningful activity, helping to examine and detect eye diseases early in children. More importantly, the program also shares knowledge and guides parents and children to have more skills and information about the benefits and effectiveness of caring for and nurturing children's eyes.
From there, mobilize and call on people to actively respond and practice according to the recommendations of experts and instructions of the Ministry of Health on measures to protect healthy eyes, avoid refractive errors and detect eye diseases in children.
Ms. Luu Thi Hong Hanh, Principal of Hoang Dieu Primary School, said that the program is a very practical and meaningful activity to raise awareness and educate the community about protecting and nurturing healthy eyes for children.
She also hopes that the program "Healthy eyes, bright future" will spread strongly to the entire Vietnamese community.
Associate Professor, Dr. Pham Ngoc Dong, Director of the Central Eye Hospital, added that currently, according to the latest studies, the rate of myopia in children is increasing, especially in cities, even in some classes over 50% of students in the class are myopic.
Scientists have not yet determined the exact cause of myopia. However, there are some risk factors that increase myopia such as too much time looking at close objects in narrow spaces, limited outdoor play, too much time reading books at close objects, using electronic devices, etc.
“Myopia in particular and eye diseases in general limit children’s ability to learn. If not detected early and intervened early, the progression of myopia will accelerate, making the child’s myopia more severe. Intervention will limit complications caused by myopia,” said Associate Professor Dong.
According to him, to prevent refractive errors in children, parents need to pay attention to increasing outdoor play for children, giving them open spaces, and limiting the use of devices with screens. Nowadays, children cannot live without computers, phones, etc. The problem is how we can regulate the time children spend using them, so that children search for information, not play games.
At the same time, we need to follow the 20-20-20 rule for the eyes, which means that after every 20 minutes of looking at an electronic device screen, parents should let their children rest for at least 20 seconds and focus their eyes on an object more than 20 feet (about 6m) away.
Source: https://baodautu.vn/ty-le-tre-bi-can-thi-ngay-cang-gia-tang-d226788.html
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