Tuesday, 26 August 2025

Early childhood vision screening

Sarah MANSFIELD (Western Victoria) (00:26): (1861) My adjournment is for the Minister for Health. The action I am seeking is for the Department of Health to introduce a universal preschool vision-screening program in Victoria. Amblyopia, or lazy eye, and myopia, or short-sightedness, are becoming increasingly common across Australia. In fact without intervention myopia is set to affect 20 million Australians by 2050, which will be approximately 50 per cent of the population. For school-aged children undiagnosed visual conditions can have a significant impact on their ability to learn in the classroom, participate in the playground and in extracurricular activities and develop important social skills. All of this impacts their journey into adolescence and adulthood, increasing the health burdens for Australians overall. The upside is that restorative treatment is possible, especially for children. Because of the neuroplasticity of children’s brains, targeted intervention at an early age can significantly reduce the symptoms of both eye impairments, if not eradicate them altogether. But this plasticity tapers off at eight years old, so it is essential that children are seen early and that they are effectively triaged for specialist support and treatment.

In Victoria screening and treatment is available but for the most part run through maternal and child health clinics. This means that in reality not every child is accessing the screens when they need them, because we know that participation rates for these appointments taper off as the child gets older and can reach as low as 55 per cent of the population by around four years old, depending on where you live in Victoria. Instead, advocates and eye experts urge that universal programs such as those already run in New South Wales and Queensland should be rolled out in each state and territory. In Victoria the best location for these are at four-year-old kinder, undertaken by optometry professionals or maternal child health nurses and supported by the child’s trusted network of educators. The cost-effectiveness of such programs is already very well documented, with the New South Wales program costing $4 million and the Queensland program costing $7.5 million a year to roll out, and the benefits are absolutely enormous. Before a child is screened it is important that parents know that there is plenty they can do to reduce the risk of developing eye conditions. Optometry Australia uses a simple catchphrase: ‘Off screens, outside, optometrist’. Parents can try to keep time spent on digital devices to a minimum and increase the time spent outdoors to 2 hours a day where possible. Now we just need the Victorian government to come on board and ensure universal access to early optometry screening.