Global Myopia Awareness Coalition

The Global Myopia Awareness Coalition (GMAC) is an organization made up of renowned eye care and eye health companies, including EssilorLuxottica, Bausch + Lomb and many more.

GMAC was founded in early 2019 by a group of stakeholders in children’s eye health and vision. The partnership consists of pediatricians, optometrists, school nurses and other health care professionals. 

They started surveying parents across the U.S. in 2019 with the goal of finding out how many were aware of myopia, and to inform them of the condition’s risks.

After two years of research, GMAC started tracking Google search trends for myopia and they found a significant increase in myopia awareness among parents.

The focus of GMAC is to use credible data to inform people about myopia (nearsightedness). Myopia usually begins in childhood and affects a person’s ability to see distant objects clearly. Poor distance vision can cause children to struggle in school and certain activities. This may change the trajectory of their futures.

GMAC proactively educates parents, teachers and other stakeholders in a child's life on a variety of topics, including: 

• What is myopia? 

• How does myopia affect a child's quality of life? 

• Why are childhood eye exams important?

Catching, correcting and controlling myopia early can make a world of difference in a child’s life.

Currently, 1 in 3 children is myopic. It’s projected that by the year 2050, half the world’s population will have myopia. Of this number, 20% are expected to have severe, or high myopia. 

High myopia is associated with a greater risk of cataracts, glaucoma and other serious eye conditions. By informing parents of this risk, they are more likely to have their child’s eyes examined. This allows eye doctors to diagnose and manage myopia as early as possible. If a doctor can prevent a child’s nearsightedness from progressing into high myopia, they may be able to spare that child from sight-threatening issues later in life.

All About Vision proudly partners with GMAC to provide easy-to-understand resources and information on myopia. Together, the hope is to make childhood eye exams more commonplace, which will give children a clearer, brighter future.

To learn more about GMAC, visit the Global Myopia Awareness Coalition website.