JINAN, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Myopia prevention and control for children and teenagers should start from as early as birth, experts suggested at a forum hosted by the National Health Commission (NHC) in Jinan, eastern China's Shandong Province.
At the two-day forum that ended Saturday, Zhou Xingtao, an ophthalmologist at the Eye & Ent Hospital of Fudan University, suggested that changes with the axis oculi should be listed as a health evaluation indicator for examination among children under the age of three.
In 2018, the myopia rate among six-year-old children in China stood at 14.5 percent, NHC data showed.
The figure is expected to drop to about three percent by 2030, according to a goal set in an action plan jointly issued by the Ministry of Education, the NHC and six other authorities in August 2018.
Experts said 40 minutes of additional outdoor activities each day can effectively prevent shortsightedness.
