Bristol PR consultancy JBP has been appointed by the National Eye Research Centre to spearhead an integrated national political and media communications programme to put the spotlight on the issue of research underfunding into the causes of eye disease, the development of treatments and the prevention of blindness.
JBP director Mihir Magudia said: “Unlike some charitable sectors such as cancer, eye disease and sight loss gets a raw deal when it comes to research funding. 
“Yet poor eye health, quite apart from the personal distress, costs the economy over £8bn every year and is a major burden on an already besieged health service.
“The communications programme will be designed to influence government to take note of this lack of funding and its impact, and to address the issue.”
National Eye Research Centre chief executive Mike Daw said: “We want the Government to realise the scale of the issue of poor eye health in the UK. Some 40 people go blind every day, which equates to 14,000 plus a year.
“More research is required to prevent avoidable blindness and increase intervention success. We have appointed JBP due to their political and national media networks, which will be critical to getting our message across to the right people.”
