Save the Date (Dates for NEHW 2020 Announced)
National Eye Health Week (NEHW) 2020 will take place 21 – 27 September.
Building on the success of the 2019 campaign – which enjoyed support from over 3,000 organisations including the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England – this year’s campaign will once again focus on raising awareness of the simple things we can all do to look after our eyes and help prevent avoidable sight loss.
David Cartwright, Chair of Eye Health UK, the charity responsible for running the Week, said: “We hope to encourage everyone with an interest in vision and eye health to come together this September to promote engaging eye health messages and create a public health campaign that has a positive and tangible impact on the nation’s eye health.”
National Eye Health Week has gained significant momentum over recent years and is now a firm fixture in the public health calendar.
Highlights from NEHW 2019 included the production of a comprehensive supporter resource pack; the publication of Vista magazine; a nationwide poster campaign; the launch of an online vision simulator giving people a glimpse of what it’s like to live with four common causes of sight loss; the publication of eye health supplements in the national press; a comprehensive media relations campaign (generating 218 Million opportunities to see positive eye health messages); a social conversation with a reach in excessive of 66 Million and The Big Blink – an initiative aimed at improving eye health in the workplace.
One in four UK adults say they remember seeing, hearing or reading something about eye health during the Week. Of these three quarters (74%) say they were encouraged to take better care of their eyes, doing things like booking an eye examination (37%) or quit smoking (7%).[1]
Sixty per cent of optical practices responding to the NEHW19 supporter evaluation survey reported an increase in sight tests in and around the Week.
David Cartwright continues: “National Eye Health Week achieves a great deal on limited resources and has built strong foundations on which to leverage the ‘prevention’ ‘agenda and significantly raise the profile of optics. To fulfil the potential of National Eye Health Week requires substantial investment, so watch this space for future funding appeals.”
To join the NEHW supporter mailing list or for information about sponsorship opportunities and other ways you can get involved in National Eye Health Week 2020 please email us.
[1] Populus Omnibus Survey of 1,094 UK Adults between 02.Oct.19 and 03.Oct.19
