Statistics show that many children and teenagers in Taiwan have serious eye problems, and parents are strongly advised to pay more attention to their children's vision by taking them for regular check-ups as often as possible during early childhood, health experts said yesterday.
The first ever festival, with the slogan "Keep your eyes healthy, 360-degree care," was held yesterday in Taipei to raise the public's awareness about the importance of eye care.
High rate
The festival was jointly hosted by the Ophthalmological Society of Taiwan under the guidance of the Bureau of Health Promotion Department of Health (DOH) and the Ministry of Education (MOE).
According to DOH deputy minister Chen Shih-jhong (
"This is a matter of grave concern. With such a high percentage, this is obviously a nationwide problem," Chen said.
Short-sightedness
Ho Cho-fei (何卓飛), Head of the department of Physical Education under the MOE, said that 26 percent of first-year elementary school students are short sighted, which increases to 52 percent by sixth grade, reaching 64 percent by the end of junior high, and 84 percent by senior high.
Chen advised that looking after ones eyes includes getting regular check ups with eye care professionals, making sure there is enough light when reading, exercising regularly and getting sufficient rest.
Check-ups
Chang Yun-hsiang (張雲翔), a doctor at the ophthalmology department of Tri-service General Hospital said that check-ups should start at the age of three and should take place at least once a year.
"Amblyopia [or lazy eye] can result if problems with the eyes are not detected and treated by the age of eight. After then it cannot be cured since eye development stops," Chang said.
Chang said that amblyopia, which is a "weakness" of the eyes that cannot be adjusted even with glasses, is often a result of eye conditions such as severe short-sightedness or far sightedness that go untreated.
Chang said that when a child has one "bad" eye and one "normal" eye, he or she will use the normal eye to do all their visual work, with the result that few may be able to tell the child has a "bad" eye.
More attention
Deputy mayor of Taipei Yeh Chin-chuan (
School pressures
Ho spoke of the importance of parents not giving their children too much academic pressure and letting them learn at a steady pace, referring to research by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development on academic ability at a worldwide level which showed that Finnish students came 2nd in math, 1st in reading, and 4th in the natural sciences.
"Despite such achievements, their school hours are only from 9am-3pm out of which four hours are spent doing sports," Ho said.
"Only with good health can kids have good careers, only with good health can kids achieve academically. Don't ruin the health of kid's eyes," Ho added.
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