Women's Eye Health Task Force

WEH.org celebrated World Sight Day on October 8, 2009 with a vision testing outreach to the Boston community. This year's theme was Gender & Eye Health - Equal Access to Sight.
Click to view a video from UNC Health Care >
Visit again for updates...

Ann Tisdale and Gale Unger of WEH.org at the information table

Downloads (pdf):
Key Messages
Status of Women
Fact Sheet
Click here for more information on Vision 2020

Media Advisories and Public Service Announcements
In a press release dated November 15, 2002, the Women’s Eye Health.org introduced themselves to the press as a concerned group of scientists and top U.S. vision experts whose mission was to educate people that two-thirds of legally blind Americans were women, and through education, we can do something about it!

Vision

Vision Researchers Educate Capitol Hill about Chronic Dry Eye
On February 15th, the WEH.org and Alliance for Eye and Vision Research (AEVR) cosponsored a US congressional briefing regarding advances and treatment for chronic dry eye diseases--a growing health problem. WEH.org Executive Committee member Janine Smith (NIH), WEH.org Advisory Board member Kelly Nichols (Ohio State Univ) and James Jorkasky of NAEVER/AEVR spoke to Congressional members and staff. The following is a link to the press release found on the NAEVR/AEVR website.

Task Force Formed to Fight Preventable Blindness in Women (PDF)

In a press release dated November 04, 2003, the Women’s Eye Health.org announced their upcoming symposium “Improving Women’s Eye Health: Strategies to Address the Greater Burden of Blindness Among Women,” to be held at the Harvard Club of Boston on November 7, 2003.

First International Conference on Women and Blindness (PDF)

In January 2003, we released two public service announcements asking women to (1) protect their vision and (2) to protect the vision of their family members.

PSA, Protect Your Vision (PDF)

PSA, Protect Family’s Vision (PDF)

Media Coverage
Since the day of our press release, 11/15/02, we have had strong coverage by the media regarding our mission. On 11/15/02 we were covered by The Boston Globe and WBZ radio in Boston. Most recently on June 10, 2004, the 14th report of our cause was released by the news service of The Society for Women’s Health Research.

Date	Medium	Author	Title
11/15/02	The Boston Globe	Stephen Smith, Staff Reporter	"Women found much more likely than men to lose their eyesight. US Task Force seeks reasons"
11/15/02	WBZ Radio, Boston	Garo Hagopian, Interviewer	Ilene K. Gipson, Ph.D., Interviewee
11/20/02	Chicago Tribune	Stephen Smith, Boston Globe Reporter	“Task Force will study women and blindness”
12/10/02 12/11/02	Cox News Service Palm Beach Post	Carolyn Susman, Staff Writer	“Blindness hits women disproportionately”
10/2003	National Women’s Health Report	Debra L. Gordon, Writer	“Women and Eye Health at Midlife”
10/24/03	Ivanhoe Broadcast News	Not known	“Eye check for women—smart move”
11/2003	Ocular Surgery News	Nichole Nader	“Women around the world share high prevalence of blindness”
2003, Vol. 16, No. 48	Community Eye Health-An International Journal to Promote Eye Health Worldwide	Victoria Frances	“Why do women carry the greater burden of blindness, and what can be done?”
01/12/04	Women’s eNEWS Women’s Radio	Kathleen Nelson, WeNews Correspondent	“Women go blind twice as often as men”
01/04	Optics and Photonics News Magazine	Kim Douglas	“Scatterings: Most of the blind are women”
02/04	Eurotimes	Daithi O’hAnluain	“Researchers explore reasons for higher prevalence of blindness among women” “Tackling gender disparity in Tanzania” “Major social consequences to poor vision”
02/20/04	The Boston Globe	Judy Forman, Freelance Columnist	“Dry eyes can cause misery but no tears”
03/04	Optometry and Vision Science	Not known	“Task force formed to blindness in women”
04/04	International Council of Ophthalmology (ICO) Leader Letter	Not known	“Improving women’s eye health”
Spring/ Summer 04	Mom-in-the-Middle (website)	Christina Baglivi Tinglof	“To your health: Midlife eyes”
06/10/04	Society for Women’s Health Research	Jennifer Wider, MD	“Blindness and vision problems hit women harder.”
Winter 2004	Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) Newsletter	Kimberly O'Sullivan, Publications Coordinator	“Special Announcement on the Women's Eye Health Task Force"
09/2004	Eye Contact: (Schepens Eye Research Institute's Employee Newsletter)	Christine Bagley	“Two-thirds of global population blind and visually impaired are women”
2005	Editorial ( Curr Opin Ophthalmolol 2005;16:231-232	Elisabeth J. Cohen, MD	“The Women's Eye Health Task Force”
05/05/05	Radio Media Tour (various US radio stations)	WEHTF Interviewee: Debra A. Schaumberg, ScD, OD, MPH	“Mother's Day Eye Care”
06/05	Editorial, Archivos De La Sociadad Espanola De Oftalmologia	Ilene K Gipson, Ph.D. and Virginia M. Turner, DrPH	“Are women more likely to be blind or visually impaired than men?”
02/06	National Alliance for Eye and Vision Research (NAEVR)/ Alliance for Eye and Vision Research (AEVR) Contributor Report	Unknown (contact James Jorkasky )	Report of 2/15/06 congressional briefing: “Vision researchers update congressional staff about important advances in understanding and treating chronic dry eye”
04/06	National Women's Health Report	Debra L. Gordon	“Women and Healthy Vision”
06/06	Ladies Home Journal	Gwen Kinkead	"What's your eye-Q?"
10/06	Optometry and Vision Science	Debra A. Schaumberg, Kelly K. Nichols	The global sex disparity in blindness and visual impairment
02/07	National Alliance for Eye and Vision Research (NAEVR)/ Alliance for Eye and Vision Research (AEVR) Contributor Report	Unknown (contact James Jorkasky )	Congressional briefing, 2/20/07: “Genes, Lifestyle and Vision Health.” Congressional staff were updated on the importance of understanding genetic factors in combination with lifestyle factors with regard to susceptibility to eye diseases. (Dr. Debra Schaumberg from WEH.org was the featured speaker.)
Jan/Feb 2007	Retina Today	Unknown (contact Rachel Renshaw) Editor-in-Chief 484-581-1858 rrenshaw@bmctoday.com	"Five Questions," and interview with Debra A. Schaumberg, ScD, OD, MPH from WEH.org.
04/07	Journal of Women's Health	Jodi R. Godfrey, MS, RD	Conversation with the Experts: “Toward Optimal Health: Janine A. Smith, M.D., Discusses Vision Impairment in Women”
11/07	Review of Optometry	Kelly K. Nichols, OD, MPH, PhD	"In the Eye of a Women”
05/08	Radio Media Tour (various radio stations)	WEHTF Interviewees: Drs. Janine A. Smith, MD and Ilene K. Gipson, Ph.D. from WEH.org	“Mother’s Day Eye Care Event”; co-sponsored with Lions Clubs International Foundation

print this page | email this page to a friend