MDNZ has appointed a General Manager, Jeanine Gribbin, pictured with Dr Dianne Sharp. Jeanine has more than 10 years experience in the not-for-profit sector. She hopes to use her newly created position to raise awareness of eye health and help those affected by macular degeneration to get the best possible treatment available and access to services that will enhance their living.
I am very excited to have joined the MDNZ team. The dedication and passion of the people involved with MDNZ is made obvious by how much this fledgling organisation has already achieved. I look forward to building on the relationships already established by MDNZ, as well as capitalizing on the momentum created this far and continuing to develop sustainable partnerships for MDNZ.
I am passionate about increasing awareness of risk factors and reducing the number of people developing preventable eye disease. Behind the shocking statistic about vision loss and macular degeneration for older people in New Zealand, there are real people whose lives are often completely changed by what can be a devastating disease. I know that the MDNZ team can make a real difference, not only to the statistics, but to people's lives.
Dame Judi Dench is the latest public figure to announce she has macular
degeneration. In New Zealand one in seven people over 50 years old is
affected by age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
Read about Dame Judi in the NZ Herald article
here
There are approximately 25,000 Kiwi's affected with the severe form
of wet AMD, with up to 800 new cases per year. In fact, almost 40% of
the members of the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind (RNZFB)
- New Zealand's main provider of sight loss services - have AMD.
In-line with international predictions and an ageing population, the
prevalence of visual impairment from AMD will almost double over the
next 20 years. However, New Zealand is one of the few countries in the
developed world without a national plan or budget to present vision
loss.
In 2002, the New Zealand Government signed up to support the World Health
Organization's VISION 2020 initiative to eliminate avoidable blindness
by 2020. With less than 10 years to go, there is not yet a coordinated
effort to achieve this goal.
"People living with AMD need and deserve to be heard by policy
makers: this is a generation of people who need support", says
Jeanine Gribbin, General Manager, Macular Degeneration New Zealand (MDNZ).
RNZFB Chief Executive and MDNZ Board member, Sandra Budd, says: "Most
vision loss is correctable, preventable or treatable and we implore
New Zealanders to seek advice early."