Cause for Eradicating Childhood Blindness Draws Actor's Support

(NewsUSA) - Children's health issues are of great concern to our society today. But amid the more obvious and widely discussed subjects of childhood obesity and lack of health care coverage, it is important not to forget about children's eyes. Here, prevention proves imperative to maintaining health.

More than 12 million American children have some form of vision impairment, but many of those conditions go undetected. Only one in three children sees an eye doctor before the age of 6, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Loss of vision, or impaired vision, can dramatically alter how a child understands and functions," says Howard Schiffer, executive director of Vitamin Angels, a nonprofit dedicated to fighting malnutrition and childhood blindness caused by vitamin A deficiencies worldwide.

Eighty percent of blindness is preventable, according to the World Health Organization, which is why Schiffer and Vitamin Angels launched Operation 20/20. Their mission: to eradicate the world of childhood blindness from vitamin A deficiency by the year 2020.

Operation 20/20 has already gained support from influential people such as Noah Wyle, longtime cast member of the NBC television drama "ER."

Wyle, whose "ER" character traveled to Africa as part of a medical relief effort, can't ignore how easy the campaign shows it is to improve a child's quality of life. "When you look at the lives being saved for just quarters, you can't afford not to help," Wyle says.

"What caught my interest was how small the investment was to make such a huge impact for these children," says Wyle, a father of two.

Children can get vitamin A through a healthy diet of orange, red and green leafy vegetables and fruits, but children in the United States have an advantage over those in underdeveloped countries who can't count on the same access to these foods.

Vitamin A deficiency in a child's first, developmentally crucial years may lead to vision loss in a child as young as 5. Such deficiency afflicts 140 million children worldwide, affecting their emotional, neurological and physical development, Schiffer says.

It was while working in India to save the lives of children dying from chronic malnutrition that Schiffer discovered that consistent, high doses of vitamin A over a period of four to five years could help eradicate childhood blindness caused by vitamin A deficiency.

This treatment of two high-dose vitamin A capsules costs only 25 cents a year for one child. "It's a very low-tech, low-cost way to solve a major global health problem," Schiffer says.

To learn more about Operation 20/20 and how to help, visit http://www.VitaminAngels.org.

"Article By: NewsUSA"