It’s Healthy Vision Month!

May 2025

Dear NEHEP Partners,

May is Healthy Vision Month (HVM)! This year, we're highlighting the powerful role of preventive care and how everyday lifestyle choices can support lifelong eye health. From scheduling regular eye exams to making healthy decisions around nutrition, activity, and chronic disease management, there are simple steps everyone can take to protect their vision.

Throughout May, NEI will share new resources, research, and real-life stories that show how taking care of your overall health can lead to better eye health outcomes. We’re excited to partner with organizations across the country to amplify these messages and help communities take charge of their eye health.

As we celebrate Healthy Vision Month, I also want to share a personal update. After more than a decade with NEHEP, I will be retiring as of May 9. It has been an incredible privilege to work alongside you to advance vision health nationwide. I’m thrilled to introduce Kathryn DeMott, who will be stepping in as the acting NEHEP Director. Kathryn brings a wealth of expertise and a deep commitment to NEHEP’s mission, and I am confident the program will continue to thrive under her leadership.

Thank you for all you do to promote vision health — and for joining us in spreading the word during HVM 2025!

Best regards,

Maria Zacharias

Acting Director, National Eye Health Education Program (NEHEP)

National Eye Institute

Share NEI’s New Healthy Vision Month Resources

This Healthy Vision Month, join NEI in raising awareness on the ways healthy lifestyle choices can protect your eye health. Visit our website and share important resources including new animated videos, social media graphics and posts, outreach materials, and more.

Check out NEI’s new resources

EyeCare America Now Provides Adults 18+ With Medical Eye Exams

Getting an eye exam helps establish healthy habits and can catch preventable eye diseases before it is too late. That’s why EyeCare America, for its 40th anniversary, lowered the minimum age for a medical eye exam to 18. Now, adults 18 and older can see if they are eligible.

Find out if you're eligible

Help Raise Awareness About Inherited Retinal Diseases

Prevent Blindness established May as Inherited Retinal Disease (IRD) Awareness Month to raise awareness about the role of genetic testing in identifying IRDs. IRDs are a group of diseases that can cause severe vision loss or even blindness. Early diagnosis can make a crucial difference in protecting vision and accessing treatment options.

Learn more about IRDs

Vision Begins at Birth: Early Screening for Lifelong Success

Good-Lite’s Early Intervention Vision Screening Program identifies potential visual impairments in children from birth to 3 years. Their products and resources for purchase offer developmentally appropriate, evidence-based screening to help ensure timely referrals and support during critical periods of visual development.

Learn more about early screening and its benefits

Calendar of Events

Experts will share insights on advancing vision health on Wednesday, May 14, 2025, a groundbreaking gathering of leaders in public health, eye care, and government sectors. This year’s theme, Perspectives in Vision, emphasizes the need for a collaborative, multidisciplinary approach to addressing eye health challenges in an evolving world.

Learn more and register here

Other Events and Resources

Resource: The National Research and Training Center on Blindness and Low Vision (NRTC) at Mississippi State University offers a course called The Low Down on Low Vision. This 1 -h our course covers the common causes of low vision, how to conduct a low vision evaluation, and the aids and techniques that help individuals make the most of their limited vision. Available for CRC, ACVREP, and NBPCB credit.

Resource: RevitalEyes offers patient-centered videos on eye health and surgery, aimed at improving ophthalmic health literacy. Their completed Cataract Surgery Collection and ongoing Refractive Surgery Collection are used at the Wilmer Eye Institute. Research is underway to compare brochures and audiovisual tools in patient education.

Resource(s): The Society for Women’s Health Research offers several insightful resources to improve women’s understanding of eye health:

SWHR Patient Toolkit: A Guide to Women’s Eye Health – A comprehensive guide that empowers women to manage their eye health, focusing on common symptoms and diseases that disproportionately affect women.
The Roles of Sex and Gender in Women’s Eye Health Disparities in the United States – A paper detailing insights and recommendations from the Women’s Eye Health Working Group to advance research and improve care for women’s eye health.
A Look at Women’s Eye Health – A fact sheet that highlights eye conditions in women, the financial burden of eye diseases, and policy actions aimed at improving women’s eye health.

The Eye Health Connection is a newsletter developed with the input of NEHEP Partners and shared with the community of NEHEP’s 60+ partner organizations. The links are provided as a convenience and for informational purposes only, they do not constitute an endorsement by the National Eye Institute or its employees.

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