Few things matter more to us than our eyesight. We fear losing it even more than some life-threatening conditions.

Yet for many New Zealanders, access to routine eye care remains out of reach. This is despite the wide-ranging impacts of vision loss for both individuals and society.

It limits opportunities for work and study, raises the risks of traffic accidents and falls, and is linked with higher rates of depression and dementia. Globally, the annual cost in lost productivity has been estimated at nearly NZ$700 billion.

What’s more, it is mostly avoidable. More than 90% of vision loss can be prevented or treated with simple, cost-effective care such as glasses or cataract surgery.

In dollar terms, providing funding for spectacles and eye examinations for New Zealanders could provide a $36 benefit for every $1 spent.

If Aotearoa matched Australia’s public funding policies for community eye care, allocating just 1.2% of its health budget could fund 2.4 million eye examinations and 60,500 pairs of glasses. Current funding delivers eye care services to 25,000 children for about 0.02% of the health budget.

With the government now deliberating its 2026 health budget, our preliminary research looks at what it could cost to make routine eye care a reality for all New Zealanders.

A plight out of sight

Anyone........

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