Health Sciences — Featured News

A Vision for the Future: Constella Helps CDC Develop Plan to Improve Vision Health in the US

July 3—More than 3.4 million Americans age 40 years and older are either legally blind or visually impaired, and millions more are at risk of developing a significant visual disability. Thanks to a new report Constella has developed on behalf of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the US government recently took an important step toward reversing this disturbing trend.

Titled “Improving the Nation’s Vision Health – A Coordinated Public Health Approach,” the 54-page report, which supports CDC’s Vision Health Initiative, seeks to underscore the growing problem of vision loss in the US and to propose specific strategies for addressing the issue based on a coordinated, national public health framework.

To develop the report, which was slightly more than a year in the making, Constella conducted a thorough review of existing literature on vision health in the US, developed a summary statement defining the problem, interviewed key stakeholders from federal agencies, professional associations and consumers, convened an expert panel to discuss ways in which to address the problem, and subsequently wrote the final report based on the results.

The result is a comprehensive report, which defines the scope and impact of the vision problem in the US, proposes a coordinated, detailed strategy for how to address it, and lays out the next steps.

“This project demonstrates CDC’s role as a catalyst among diverse organizations in addressing urgent health issues,” said Pat Shifflett, Director of Business Development for Health Sciences’ Center for Health Program Advancement, and Project Director for this contract. “We learned a great deal about how daunting the vision problem really is in the United States and the burden it creates on those affected by it. At the same time, it was extremely encouraging to work with some of the top minds in vision health to develop a viable, sustainable approach for addressing this growing public health concern.”

“Improving the Nation’s Vision Health – A Coordinated Public Health Approach” is now available on CDC’s website.