This Belfast Pride Festival, the Public Health Agency (PHA) is highlighting the mental health and emotional wellbeing support available for members of the LGBTQIA+ community. With the theme of this year’s Belfast Pride Festival being ‘Love Your Mind’ there has never been a more important time to reach out if you need mental health support and the PHA is reminding everyone that the Lifeline service supports people of every age, ethnicity, religion, disability, sexuality and gender identity. Lifeline is Northern Ireland’s crisis response helpline for people experiencing distress or despair and

The Public Health Agency (PHA) is urging people who are eligible to avail of the HPV and mpox vaccinations at the Belfast Pride Festival on Saturday 27 July. A team of healthcare professionals from the PHA and vaccinators from the South Eastern Health and Social Care (HSC) Trust will be located at Pride village in Custom House Square during the festival. What is mpox? It is caused by the mpox virus, a member of the same family of viruses as smallpox, although it is much less severe. Initial symptoms include fever, headaches, swellings, back pain, aching muscles. Once the fever breaks a Dr

The Health Minister Mike Nesbitt visited Western Health and Social Care Trust (WHSCT) and met with Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) programme participants. Watch a video from the visit https://vimeo.com/981981659/6f2b89217a?share=copy About the programme: The programme provides support from early pregnancy until the child is two years old, parents are offered intensive and structured home visiting, delivered by specially trained ‘family nurses’. In doing so the programme hopes to bring about huge benefits such as readiness for school, improved educational achievement and a reduction in anti

The Public Health Agency (PHA) is reminding people about food safety ahead of long weekend barbecues and as people head off on holidays, as undercooked and mishandled food can cause a number of illnesses. Dr Claire Neill, Consultant in Health Protection at the PHA, said: “Bacteria on or in food are usually the underlying cause of food poisoning, which is an illness that occurs after eating or handling contaminated food or liquid. That is why there is a need for thorough cooking and good hand hygiene. “Although it is probably far from people’s minds when they are enjoying food outdoors or on

The Public Health Agency (PHA) is urging anyone choosing to use alcohol during the Twelfth of July celebrations to keep an eye on their drinking by making a sensible plan and sticking to it. Whether it is drinking at home, at a party, at an eleventh night bonfire, or at a parade, everyone is being reminded that alcohol carries serious risks both to safety and to health. Kevin Bailey, the PHA’s Regional Lead for Drugs and Alcohol said: “We understand that the long weekend is a time to relax and let off some steam but we’d encourage people to do so safely by keeping an eye on what and how much

Last week we received that sad news that our friend Andrew Dougal had passed away. Andrew was the Chair of the PHA until just last year, having served for eight years in the role. Not only did be bring his vast experience and knowledge of a broad range of health issues, but he was also a source of encouragement and support for the agency and its staff. After attending St Malachy’s College in north Belfast, and then Queen’s University, Andrew started a career as a teacher at St Louise’s College in west Belfast. He then went onto become Chief Executive of Northern Ireland Chest Heart & Stroke in

The Public Health Agency (PHA) has announced that the pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine is now available through HSC Trust antenatal clinics, making it more accessible for pregnant women. It will also continue to be available through GP practices. This comes as Northern Ireland has seen an increase in cases of whooping cough, also known as pertussis, a highly contagious and sometimes serious bacterial infection which can make babies and young children in particular very ill. There have been 1,788 confirmed cases of the illness so far this year in Northern Ireland, compared with just two