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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOAL 3: GOOD HEALTH AND WELL-BEING – VISION INITIATIVE

Summary

The chosen project for this essay is the Vision Initiative which is a Victorian government-funded project which is operated and managed by Australia Vision 2020 (Vision Initiative, 2015). The project is focused on preventable blindness and vision loss in the Victorian community the project came into inception focused on a stat that In Australia if diagnosed early, 90% vision loss may be avoided or treated (WHO, 2013). As multiple asymptomatic eye conditions are important for the early detection and treatment of many eye conditions, routine eye exams are needed (Commonwealth of Australia, 2005). This is prevented by focusing on increasing awareness of the involved risks on the importance of regular eye tests and how the blindness can be prevented and also improving the understanding amongst eye health professionals on the continuous treatment.

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Analysis

Understanding Problem(s)

Sustainable development is a basic human right and a primary measure for wellbeing (Griggs et al., 2013). The failing health is undermining children’s access to education, reducing men’s and women’s economic prospects, and growing poverty in societies and countries across the world. Apart from the causes of poverty, health is affected by poverty and closely related to other sustainable development factors, including water and sanitation, equality of genders, climate change and peace and stability (Robert, Parris, & Leiserowitz, 2005). The health and wellbeing of the people empower them to enhance their social, economic, productive areas (Nunes, Lee, & O’Riordan, 2016). There are an estimated 45 million blind people worldwide. Many people have lost sight of curable or preventable illnesses. 80% of them live in the less developed nations where the additional responsibility of the loss of vision aggravates chronic economic poverty. Without action, by 2020, a number of factors, particularly the fast aging of populations in most countries, would have caused blindness to reach 76 million. Despite primarily elderly people’s eye disease, the expected doubling of the world’s population from 50 to 2 milliards by 2020 has significant effects on blind and visually impaired people (Pizzarello et al., 2004). The Australian population is aging each passing year as the average age of Australians is increasing, it is estimated that by the total number of blind people or people that have vision loss are above 800,000 by the year 2020 (Vision Initiative, 2018). For all the human beings the eyes are the windows to develop and maintain a healthy brain function it is essential to have a good vision and sight as we have to be aware of our surroundings, the brain which is the most significant organ that allows us to live our complex life, vision from eyes provides a bridge to the brain to visualize and function accordingly, it can be said that if your eyes and sight are healthy the overall quality of life is increased (Lundström, Stenevi, & Thorburn, 2001).

Defining Problem(s)

The people of Victoria require good health and well-being, specifically when it comes to treating and detecting preventable illnesses, it is essential for the people to be informed on all the possible preventable illnesses they can have. The massive spread of population which can vary in demographics, psychographics, behavioral, and geographic segments require and perceive information in a different manner, these segments amongst each population are dependent on the spread of information on the preventive healthcare (Vodopivec‐Jamsek, de Jongh, Gurol‐Urganci, Atun, & Car, 2012), it falls on the shoulders of the various NGOs and Government Organisation which focused on improving the health and well-being of the people.
There are various people associated with the existing problem first and foremost the people which are affected by this problem, followed by the government and its agencies which are responsible for improving health and wellbeing of the citizens of Australia, healthcare professionals have a major role to play in improving the ratio of early detections for diseases, and health care industry as a whole are the major stakeholders of this problem.

We can see that government has the most interest and is aligned is a major and key stakeholder, people, and health care professionals are to be taken into the high-interest high alignment as each stakeholder plays a different role which is discussed as the people who seek a healthy life plays a major role when it comes to preventive healthcare they are primarily responsible for taking preventive actions such as tests, advice from healthcare professionals and gather information to improve and sustain their health and wellbeing. The government is primarily responsible for creating policies that protect its citizens from preventive illness by spreading the required information to the general public via local media campaigns and build the capacity of healthcare professionals in detecting at-risk people from non-tested and under-tested individuals. The constant stream of widespread information which is concise and clear to promote regular eye tests to regular people and at-risk people will aid in the elimination of preventable vision loss and blindness. The health care industry and the healthcare professionals play a key role in this problem it is imperative that the healthcare professionals gather all the provided information necessary to identify at-risk individuals by attending various seminars, training, and be familiar with the tools. The healthcare providers help communicate the importance of eye health to all individuals to be motivated to take regular eye tests. These efforts of spreading awareness and shedding light on the importance of early detection can improve eye health and vision care in Victorian communities (Access Economics Pty Limited, 2010).
The role the stakeholders play is essential however several challenges are upfront which is required to overcome to achieve the needs of people. The first and foremost challenge for awareness campaign is to reach the people, swift measures and heavy funding is required to achieve the major task such financial constraint is still minimum when it comes to the consequences increasing health care costs (PWC, 2013). The people who are not focused on their health and wellbeing do not take preventive measures like regular health check-ups and routine follow-ups the visit to the healthcare center is done as per need which decreases the chances of early detection of illnesses, even with the provided information many people are not motivated enough to take up regular medical screening.

Addressing Problem(s)

To address the problem of preventable vision loss and blindness the Vision Initiative which is based on the National framework for action to promote eye health and prevent avoidable blindness and vision loss, this project is managed by Vision 2020 Australia which is the national body for eye health and vision care in Australia established in the year 2000 as a part of the WHO initiative “The Right to Sight” (Vision Initiative, 2020). As PMI (2004) stated that a project is a temporary endeavor to build a particular good, service or outcome with a beginning and an end, here the Vision Initiative started a project from the year 2017 to 2019 on six local government areas after successful projects in the year 2012-2015 in four local government areas where greater populations were at risk in total the initiative aims to target 14 high-risk areas (SDGS, 2020). The time bounding of the projects of the local governments are clear, concise, can be measured, has a beginning and end, and focus on the specific outcome the projects by vision initiative fits the definition of the project. The vision initiative itself is a project which was to be concluded in the year 2020 with the aim to deliver greater understanding amongst healthcare professionals of eye health and vision issues, increase the awareness amongst people regarding the importance of preventive eye diseases and improve the frequency of regular eye check-ups, and a platform for collaboration between eye care providers and government. The ultimate goal of the project Vision Initiative is to prevent avoidable blindness and vision loss and address the impact of vision loss in the Victorian community (SDGS, 2020). In a study by Morris (2013) which states that projects are more complex and but should be focused on improving sponsor value the Vision initiative focuses on the framework and is aligned as per the organizational and sponsors value. Vision initiative is aligned with the overall strategy of Vision 2020 Australia this alignment is what is required for successful project management (Pinto & Winch, 2016) the results of which are also presented making it a successful project.

Reflection

The Project Vision Initiative, in my opinion, is a project which has been focused and clear by targeting the populations which are more prone to vision loss and blindness, many sights were saved by this initiative overall having a positive impact in the health and wellbeing of the Victorians and a favorable impact on the economy as well. The vision initiative is an example of how projects are defined and revisited each year to reroute themselves to reaching the ultimate goal of the project. The project is a great addition to many projects which focus on the health and wellbeing of the people moving towards a sustainable future.

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References

Access Economics Pty Limited. (2010). Clear Focus The Economic Impact of Vision Loss in Australia in 2009 Retrieved from https://www.vision2020australia.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/v2020aus_report_clear_focus_overview_jun10.pdf
Commonwealth of Australia. (2005). National Framework for Action to Promote Eye Health and Prevent Avoidable Blindness and Vision Loss. Retrieved from http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/content/eyehealth-pubs-frame
Griggs, D., Stafford-Smith, M., Gaffney, O., Rockström, J., Öhman, M. C., Shyamsundar, P., . . . Noble, I. (2013). Sustainable development goals for people and planet. Nature, 495(7441), 305-307.
Lundström, M., Stenevi, U., & Thorburn, W. (2001). Quality of life after first-and second-eye cataract surgery: five-year data collected by the Swedish National Cataract Register. Journal of Cataract & Refractive Surgery, 27(10), 1553-1559.
Morris, P. (2013). Reconstructing project management reprised: A knowledge perspective. Project Management Journal, 44(5), 6-23.
Nunes, A. R., Lee, K., & O’Riordan, T. (2016). The importance of an integrating framework for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals: the example of health and well-being. BMJ global health, 1(3).
Pinto, J. K., & Winch, G. (2016). The unsettling of “settled science:” The past and future of the management of projects. International Journal of Project Management, 34(2), 237-245.
Pizzarello, L., Abiose, A., Ffytche, T., Duerksen, R., Thulasiraj, R., Taylor, H., . . . Resnikoff, S. (2004). VISION 2020: The Right to Sight: a global initiative to eliminate avoidable blindness. Archives of ophthalmology, 122(4), 615-620.
PMI. (2004). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (Vol. 130): Project Management Institute.
PWC. (2013). Investing in Vision – Comparing the costs and benefits of eliminating avoidable blindness and visual impairment. Retrieved from https://www.vision2020australia.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/FHF_Summary_Investing_in_Vision_Report_130430b.pdf
Robert, K. W., Parris, T. M., & Leiserowitz, A. A. (2005). What is sustainable development? Goals, indicators, values, and practice. Environment: science and policy for sustainable development, 47(3), 8-21.
SDGS. (2020). VISION INITIATIVE. Retrieved from https://sdgs.org.au/project/vision-initiative/
Vision Initiative. (2015). Vision Initiative end of program evaluation report 2012-15. Retrieved from https://www.visioninitiative.org.au/uploads/assets/files/Reports/Vision%20Initiative_Evaluation%20Report%202012-2015_final.pdf
Vision Initiative. (2018). Eye Health in Australia. Retrieved from https://www.visioninitiative.org.au/common-eye-conditions/eye-health-in-australia/
Vision Initiative. (2020). What is Vision Initiative. Retrieved from https://www.visioninitiative.org.au/about-the-program/what-is-the-vision-initiative/
Vodopivec‐Jamsek, V., de Jongh, T., Gurol‐Urganci, I., Atun, R., & Car, J. (2012). Mobile phone messaging for preventive health care. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews(12).
WHO. (2013). Universal eye health: a global action plan 2014-2019. Retrieved from https://www.vision2020australia.org.au/resources/universal-eye-health-a-global-action-plan-2014-2019

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