More than half of children and adolescents in China were suffering from short sightedness in 2020

Global Times

15th July 2021

More than half of children and adolescents in China were suffering from short sightedness in 2020: national health commission

By Global Times

Around 52.7 percent of children and adolescents in China were found be suffering from short sightedness in a survey targeting 2.48 million students from 8,604 schools in 2020, according to data released by the National Health Commission on Tuesday.

"The overall short sightedness rate of children and adolescents in China increased by 2.5 percent compared with 2019, but it is still down from 53.6 percent in 2018," Wang Ningli, director of Beijing Tongren Hospital, said during a press conference held by the National Health Commission on Tuesday.

Wang said that in the first half of 2020, people spent more time staying at home due to the epidemic. This reduced the time spent on outdoor activities which helps to relax their eyes. This brought challenges to the prevention and control of myopia.

The survey was carried out from September to December in 2020,

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202107/1228537.shtml