CHICAGO— Prevent Blindness America announced today that it has changed its dba to “Prevent Blindness,” a revision made to better align with the association’s mission and global relevance.

Originally operating under the name, “National Society to Prevent Blindness,” Prevent Blindness was founded in 1908 “as an endeavor to save the vision in infants from a blinding yet preventable eye disease known as ‘Babies’ Sore Eyes,’” the association said. Currently, the national group and its affiliates across the country pursue a wider range of goals including promoting public awareness of the importance of vision health, advocating for public policy that emphasizes early detection and access to appropriate eyecare, educating allied health professionals about eye health, and supporting vision-related scientific research, Prevent Blindness said.

The association will use their new name to initiate a refocusing of efforts toward key issues such as diabetic eye disease, women’s eye health, children’s vision, improving quality of life for those with low vision and increasing their role in public health research.

“By moving forward as ‘Prevent Blindness,’ we add focus to our mission and acknowledge the growing global reliance on the internet for information on eye health. Our goal is to expand our programs and develop new ones to address a wide variety of vision health needs,” said Hugh R. Parry, president and CEO of Prevent Blindness. “But with the new name, our mission remains unchanged. We continue to work toward the same result, which is to put an end to needless vision loss in adults and children.”