ADVOCATING FOR AUSTRALIAN CHILDREN LIVING WITH VISION IMPAIRMENT
Australian Childhood Vision Impairment Register
With
Dr Susan Silveira
Chief Investigator
Australian Childhood Vision Impairment Register, NextSense &
Program Director
Master of Disability Studies (Macquarie University), NextSense
AUSTRALIAN HEALTH JOURNAL SEGMENT
Filmed in Sydney | June 2025
The Australian Childhood Vision Impairment Register (ACVIR), the first of its kind in Australia, captures uniquely Australian data which is used to improve services for children with vision impairment. The data is also available to researchers who work in the area of eye disease and disorders of vision.
Currently in Australia, we don’t know how many Australian children have vision impairment.
This makes it hard to plan for the services these children need, or to argue for research into preventing conditions which cause vision impairment.
NextSense Institute, in partnership with key Australian service providers, corporate donors, government departments and health professionals, has undertaken a major research project to develop and maintain an Australia-wide record of children with vision impairment.
This project is called the Australian Childhood Vision Impairment Register.
Australian Health Journal spoke with Dr Susan Silveira, Chief Investigator of the Register.
The Register collects accurate information on children who have been diagnosed by an ophthalmologist (eye doctor) with vision impairment.. This information is used to establish the number of children with vision impairment, the causes and level of vision impairment and any additional disabilities and health conditions these children have.
The Parent or guardian of a child, aged 0-18 years, who has been diagnosed by an ophthalmologist with vision impairment, are invited to join the Australian Childhood Vision Impairment Register.
The Australian Childhood Vision Impairment Register (ACVIR) is sponsored by NextSense with support from Guide Dogs, Vision Australia, low vision service providers and families of children with vision loss.
Source: Written by AUDIENCED sourced from NextSense website
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Medicinal cannabis in Australia Update
According to the Australian Journal of General Practice, published by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, more than 130,000 medicinal cannabis approvals have been issued in Australia to date, mostly by general practitioners, with approximately 65% of these to treat chronic non-cancer pain. Despite robust supportive data from animal models, current clinical trial evidence for THC and CBD efficacy in chronic pain is incomplete. In their prescribing decisions, doctors must balance patient demand and curiosity with caution regarding potential risks and limited efficacy (Source: https://www1.racgp.org.au/ajgp/2021/october/medicinal-cannabis)
Australian Health Journal met with 3 speakers at the recent @arcsaustralia ARCS22 Conference providing an update on medicinal cannabis. The discussion with the speakers now centres on affordability and access.
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Conjoint Associate Professor Walter Kmet, CEO of Macquarie University Hospital, says that the story of robotics at the Hospital is driven by its academic health sciences identity.
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Primary care remodelled
Tracey Johnson is the CEO of Inala Primary Care, a not-for-profit general practice located in Inala serving approximately 7000 patients; 4400 of whom attend clinic regularly. Inala is a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland and has a population of great cultural and linguistic diversity, with just under 40% of residents speaking English at home. It is also one of Queensland’s most socioeconomically marginalised urban areas.
Australian Health Journal spoke with Tracey on the role of Inala Primary care in reducing hospital admissions.
