{"id":30163,"date":"2026-03-27T17:52:04","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T15:52:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=30163"},"modified":"2026-03-27T17:52:04","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T15:52:04","slug":"sa-urges-early-eye-testing-for-children-during-world-optometry-week","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/sa-urges-early-eye-testing-for-children-during-world-optometry-week\/","title":{"rendered":"SA urges early eye testing for children during World Optometry Week"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As World Optometry Week is observed, South Africa (SA) Optometrist Zelda Theron is encouraging parents to take children\u2019s eye health more seriously.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>She says some children fall behind at school for a simple reason, they cannot see properly, and in many cases, no one realises it early enough.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Theron explains that eye tests are not only about eyesight. A proper examination can also reveal early warning signs of conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>She stresses that making eye checks a routine part of children\u2019s healthcare can help avoid long-term problems and support better learning and overall health.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":30164,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-30163","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"SA Optometrist Zelda Theron is encouraging parents to take children\u2019s eye health more seriously","published_date":"2026-03-27 17:49:45","news_description":"SA Optometrist Zelda Theron is encouraging parents to take children\u2019s eye health more seriously","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/30163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/30163\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30165,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/30163\/revisions\/30165"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=30163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}