It is just less than one month until No Smoking Day on Wednesday 14 March, with thousands of smokers across Northern Ireland today being urged to stub out their cigarettes and become ‘Proud Quitters’.

Lifeline is Northern Ireland’s crisis response helpline service for people who are experiencing distress or despair. The Public Health Agency (PHA) commissions the Lifeline service and the current contract is due to end on 31st March 2018. The PHA offered a contract extension to the current provider, Contact (Northern Ireland), to continue to deliver this service from 1st April 2018. However, late last year Contact (Northern Ireland) decided not to accept the offer of extension of the current contract.

The PHA’s HSC R&D Division is working in partnership with Health Data Research UK which is awarding an initial £30 million funding to six sites across the UK to address challenging healthcare issues through use of data science. Each site has world-class expertise; a track record in using health data to derive new knowledge, scientific discovery and insight; and works in close partnership with NHS bodies and the public to translate research findings into benefits for patients and populations.

With a yellow weather warning for snow and ice in place for the next few days, the Public Health Agency (PHA) is reminding everyone as the temperature drops and people turn up the heat to be aware of the symptoms of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning.

Northern Ireland Helplines Awareness Day tomorrow [6 February] will highlight the extensive range of helplines providing vital support, advice and information to the public across Northern Ireland. The awareness day and an event at Belfast City Hall will be hosted by Helplines Network NI, a partnership made up of 30 helplines.

The Public Health Agency (PHA) has launched a new campaign highlighting the health benefits of breastfeeding and supporting mums to feel more comfortable breastfeeding in public. Northern Ireland has the lowest rates of breastfeeding in the UK, so the #NotSorryMums campaign aims to encourage women to breastfeed and highlights how mothers never have to apologise for feeding their baby in public.

The latest data published by the Public Health Agency (PHA) show that flu activity decreased last week [15th January – 21st January 2018]. However activity still remains at moderate levels, so the PHA is reminding everyone of importance of hand hygiene and self-care when preventing and managing colds and flu. Dr Jillian Johnston, Consultant at the PHA, said: “We may have seen a reduction in the prevalence of flu last week, but we shouldn’t become complacent. The fact remains that people are still falling ill with flu, so we should all take steps to prevent its spread.