The American Medical Association has passed a resolution calling for formal classification of nearsightedness as a disease, urging the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to ensure children and adolescents have access to treatments and insurance coverage. The resolution also calls for increased public health education and improved screening in children. This mirrors a global effort the American Academy of Ophthalmology launched in 2021, when it published a white paper titled Reducing the Global Burden of Myopia by Delaying the Onset of Myopia and Reducing Myopic Progression in Children, coordinating a worldwide health initiative to address rising myopia rates.

The numbers behind the push are stark: in America, the number of nearsighted people has nearly doubled over the last 50 years to about 41.6 percent of the population, according to the National Eye Institute. The World Health Organization predicts that, if current trends continue, half of the world's population will be nearsighted by 2050, with up to one-fifth at increased risk of blindness due to complications of high myopia.