{"id":26501,"date":"2016-03-31T01:54:46","date_gmt":"2016-03-31T01:54:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/preventblindness.org\/blog\/basic_page\/our-history\/"},"modified":"2025-08-19T12:27:50","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T17:27:50","slug":"our-history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/preventblindness.org\/our-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Our History"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Our mission is\u00a0to prevent blindness and preserve sight.<\/strong><\/h1>\n

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Prevent Blindness: The Sight-Saving People<\/a><\/p>\n

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Our History<\/h2>\n

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1908<\/h3>
Spurred to action after learning that 30 percent of blindness in children was easily preventable, volunteers banded together to organize the forerunner of today’s Prevent Blindness<\/div><\/div> <\/div><\/div>
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1917<\/h3>
\"Babies'<\/p>\n

Successfully led legislation that virtually eliminated a leading cause of blindness in infants, called ophthalmia neonatorum.<\/div><\/div> <\/div><\/div>

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1926<\/h3>
We created the first volunteer-run preschool vision screening program in the United States.<\/div><\/div> <\/div><\/div>
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1942<\/h3>
Prevent Blindness conducted the nation’s first glaucoma detection program.<\/div><\/div> <\/div><\/div>
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1944<\/h3>
We organized the first volunteer glaucoma screening program in the United States.<\/div><\/div> <\/div><\/div>
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1956<\/h3>
We marshalled resources for\u00a0the development of equipment to test the vision of infants.<\/div><\/div> <\/div><\/div>
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1972<\/h3>
Prevent Blindness spearheaded legislation to require impact-resistant lenses in all eyewear.<\/div><\/div> <\/div><\/div>
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1985<\/h3>
We released a national study revealing blindness prevention as the third most important eye health concern among Americans.<\/div><\/div> <\/div><\/div>
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1995<\/h3>
Prevent Blindness and its affiliates introduced adult vision screening and photoscreening training programs.<\/div><\/div> <\/div><\/div>
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1996<\/h3>
Prevent Blindness developed its first web presence at www.preventblindness.org to educate people about their eyes and vision health.<\/div><\/div> <\/div><\/div>
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2002<\/h3>
We published the Vision Problems in the U.S. report on the prevalence and burden of age-related eye disease in America.<\/div><\/div> <\/div><\/div>
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2003<\/h3>
Our advocacy efforts helped establish a vision research and prevention program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). We worked with legislators to establish the Congressional Vision Caucus, a bipartisan coalition of Congressional Members.<\/div><\/div> <\/div><\/div>
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2006<\/h3>
\"Eyes<\/p>\n

The first annual Eyes on Capitol Hill campaign brought more than 100 patients and vision advocates to Washington, D.C. to discuss eye health policies with legislators.<\/div><\/div> <\/div><\/div>

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2009<\/h3>
With leadership and support from the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Prevent Blindness established the\u00a0National Center for Children\u2019s Vision and Eye Health. The Center supports the development of a public health infrastructure to promote and ensure a comprehensive, multi-tiered continuum of eye health and vision care for young children.<\/div><\/div> <\/div><\/div>
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2010<\/h3>
Hosted the first annual Focus on Eye Health National Summit in Washington, D.C. to address emerging and current population health trends and topics, which continues today having evolved to a virtual global event.<\/div><\/div> <\/div><\/div>
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2014<\/h3>
Prevent Blindness published The Future of Vision: Forecasting the Prevalence and Costs of Vision Problems report, projecting the prevalence and costs of vision problems and forecasting how their impacts may change in the coming years through 2050.<\/div><\/div> <\/div><\/div>
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2018<\/h3>
Prevent Blindness established the Center for Vision and Population Health to convening stakeholders in vision, public health, and patient advocacy to address the barriers to healthy vision and work to increase the uniformity of vision preservation nationally. The center serves as a national coordinating body for effective practices, state-level technical assistance, and programmatic interventions.<\/div><\/div> <\/div><\/div>
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2020<\/h3>
Launched The Glaucoma Community, in partnership with Responsum Health, a mobile app and online knowledge platform for patients with glaucoma and their caregivers.<\/p>\n

Founded the ASPECT (Advocacy, Support, Perspective, Empowerment, Communication, and Training) Patient Engagement Program at Prevent Blindness. The program is designed to equip participants with knowledge, skills, and confidence to become advocates for vision and eye health at the individual, peer-to-peer, community, state, and\/or national levels.<\/div><\/div> <\/div><\/div>

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2024<\/h3>
Prevent Blindness support the introduction of the Early Detection of Vision Impairments for Children Act in Congress. The EDVI Act would establish the first federal program to address children\u2019s vision and eye health.<\/p>\n

\"EDVI<\/a><\/p>\n

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