Diagnoses of nearsightedness in Taiwan have been increasing at a far slower rate than in its neighbors, thanks to a public health initiative to get children to spend more time outside, a feature carried by the international journal Nature said on Wednesday.
The article cited Taiwan’s 2010 policy of “120 Every Day” as the reason for the nation’s relatively low increase in myopia during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The necessity of staying indoors during the pandemic resulted in children in East Asia growing exponentially nearsighted, especially in Shandong, Shanghai and Hong Kong, it said.
Photo: Ou Su-mei, Taipei Times
There were fewer new cases of myopia among Taiwanese children, it added.
Chang Gung Hospital Kaohsiung branch ophthalmologist Wu Pei-chang (吳佩昌), who was also cited in the article, said that the “120 Every Day” policy encouraged children to exercise outdoors for at least two hours every day.
The government has continued to promote the view that myopia is an illness, and like other illnesses, it should be cured, Wu said.
The efforts have gradually corrected parents’ opinion that worsening myopia was a normal physiological phenomenon, making them more willing to take children for treatment, Wu said.
Wu said the Ministry of Education’s encouragement for students to step outside the classroom during recesses has also helped reduce myopia.
However, Wu also voiced concern that the ministry’s other policies of every student having a tablet computer and installing air-conditioners in every classroom would decrease students’ willingness to go outside.
“The government will have to expend greater efforts to encourage students to step outside the classroom during recesses,” he said.
Wu said such measures would help control myopia among children, ensure that children generate vitamin D from regular sun exposure and introduce opportunities for social interaction among students.
Turning off air-conditioners and lights would also help save energy, he added.
Taiwan’s achievements in controlling myopia have accomplished what no WHO member nation has done, Wu said, adding that he hoped to share Taiwan’s success with others and that the government would continue to introduce effective public health policies.
However, the Nature report also cited Australian National University myopia researcher Ian Morgan, who said that when it comes to promoting more outdoor time, “wide-scale implementation now seems feasible and likely to succeed” only if more governments were willing to recalibrate their education agendas.
Until then, however, Taiwan has been an exception, the article said.
The article also said researchers do not fully know why outdoor exposure helps prevent myopia and that a firmer understanding would help scientists develop better treatments.
The article cited Christine Wildsoet, an optometrist at the University of California, Berkeley, as saying: “Because once we know the key features, then we can bring some of them indoors.”
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
Snow fell on Yushan (Jade Mountain, 玉山) yesterday morning as a continental cold air mass sent temperatures below freezing on Taiwan’s tallest peak, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Snowflakes were seen on Yushan’s north peak from 6:28am to 6:38am, but they did not fully cover the ground and no accumulation was recorded, the CWA said. As of 7:42am, the lowest temperature recorded across Taiwan was minus-5.5°C at Yushan’s Fengkou observatory and minus-4.7°C at the Yushan observatory, CWA data showed. On Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County, a low of 1.3°C was recorded at 6:39pm, when ice pellets fell at Songsyue Lodge (松雪樓), a
RSS