As Christmas approaches, the Public Health Agency (PHA) is encouraging people to look after their mental health and that of their loved ones over the holiday period. Christmas is traditionally viewed as a time of celebration and happiness. Unfortunately for some Christmas can also be stressful and lonely. Madeline Heaney, Regional Lead for Mental and Emotional Wellbeing at the PHA, said: “Many of us will be looking forward to the Christmas holidays so that we can spend time with our family and friends.

A reminder has been issued by the Public Health Agency (PHA) for all people in “at risk” groups to get the winter flu vaccine, with a warning about the deadly dangers associated with catching the flu. The call comes as figures show that excess winter deaths last year were the highest since 2009/10, when the swine flu pandemic was at its peak.

This Homelessness Awareness Week (28 November – 5 December) the Public Health Agency (PHA) has teamed up with Council for the Homeless in Northern Ireland (CHNI) to provide ‘Keep Warm’ packs to rough sleepers. The packs, which are made up of items including waterproof coats, fleece jackets, woollen hats, gloves, thermal underwear, socks and rucksacks, are being given out as part of a scheme to help protect people who are sleeping rough from the effects of cold weather.

The Public Health Agency (PHA) has published its ‘HIV surveillance in Northern Ireland 2015’ report today ahead of World AIDS Day (1 December).

The Public Health Agency (PHA) would like to thank all those who took the time and effort to respond to the 12 week public consultation on proposals for the future of the Lifeline service, and has set out the next steps in its review of the current service model. Lifeline is Northern Ireland’s crisis response helpline service for people who are experiencing distress or despair.

The Health and Social Care Board (HSCB) and Public Health Agency (PHA) want to hear about your experiences of using mental health services, across Northern Ireland, in the last three years. The You in Mind - Your Experience Matters Survey is being run for the second time in Northern Ireland. People with lived experience and their carers have been asked for their personal experiences of using mental health services.

The first Regional Quality Awards, established to recognise the outstanding achievement of staff working to improve quality or safety in health and social care, have been announced by the PHA’s HSC Safety Forum at an Improvement Network, NI (INNI) event at 1.30pm, Tuesday 17 November in Riddell Hall, Stranmillis, Belfast.

The theme for this year’s World Diabetes Day on 14 November is ‘Healthy Living and Diabetes’, so the Public Health Agency (PHA) is encouraging everyone across Northern Ireland to be aware of how type 2 diabetes can be prevented, the harm it can cause to your health and what the signs and symptoms are to help ensure early diagnosis. In Northern Ireland diabetes affects over 79,000 adults, however, many cases of type 2 diabetes are preventable and are the result of obesity.

The Public Health Agency (PHA) is reminding all those ‘at risk’ to get the flu vaccine as the overall uptake for the vaccination is lower than at the same time last year. So far this year there has been a 10 percentage point decrease in uptake by people categorised as ‘at risk’ – pregnant women and those with underlying health conditions, for example, asthma – as well as a fall (10 points) in the number of pre-school children aged over two years receiving the vaccine.