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Enhancing Awareness of Blindness Resulting from Diabetes. Understanding Treatments & Preventitive Interventions.

In Ireland, Diabetic Retinopathy is a leading cause of blindness. The number of people becoming blind due to diabetes is set to rapidly increase as the “diabetes epidemic” unfolds. In general, there is a lack of awareness as to the social, economic and health impact of diabetic blindness.
Here, we generate short 3D-animations that can rapidly communicate, in visually engaging video, the significance of diabetic blindness, the mechanisms leading to blindness and preventative/therapeutic interventions. These animations can be rapidly disseminated to wide cohorts of patients, clinicians, scientists, policy makers and lay-persons using websites, social media and school visits. At the start, during and after the end of this KEDS award, we will engage with the relevant patient, clinician and schoolteacher stakeholders to design the awareness media so it effectively enhance awareness of these conditions and current research initiatives to each target audience. Quantitative and qualititative feedback will be sought from the end-users to evaluate how the media generated and our dissemination strategy has enhanced awareness and understanding of diabetic blindness. Critical feedback will also be sought to identify areas which we can further improve.