Pharmacies in Wales will run a month-long campaign to boost awareness of eye health, Community Pharmacy Wales (CPW) has announced.

Wales' 714 pharmacies will highlight risk factors that can cause sight problems and encourage good eyecare throughout July, in a joint programme with Public Health Wales and the Royal National Institute of the Blind Cymru.

The look after your eyes initiative is one of the three national public health campaigns Welsh pharmacies deliver as part of the pharmacy contract every year. This year, pharmacies have already run a campaign on stroke risks and it is to launch a winter wellness initiative in October.

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	For the eyecare campaign, pharmacy teams will use MURs, prescriptions and promotions to prompt interventions. These aim to highlight factors such as diabetes and smoking. Pharmacy teams will offer general advice on eye health, as well as making referrals where necessary.

A CPW spokesperson said the campaign could highlight pharmacy's potential role in eyecare to the Welsh government, which is planning to create a five-year scheme to improve eyecare.

"There will be an evaluation of the campaign and it won't necessarily just be a matter of just measuring interventions, but measuring impact of the particular services that contribute to eye health," the spokesperson told C+D.

She added that pharmacy was fortunate to have ministerial support in its public health work. Health and social care minister Mark Drakeford is set to launch the eyecare campaign, although details of the date and venue are yet to be confirmed.

Sight loss is estimated to affect about 100,000 people in Wales.