This week is Mental Health Awareness Week and the Public Health Agency (PHA) is urging people across Northern Ireland to get active in a bid to improve their emotional wellbeing.

To mark Cancer Prevention Week (13–19 May 2013) the Public Health Agency (PHA) is highlighting some steps that can reduce an individual’s risk of getting cancer. Dr Miriam McCarthy, Consultant in Public Health Medicine at the PHA, said: “Around 9,000 new cases of cancer are diagnosed each year in Northern Ireland but one third of these could be prevented.” The PHA has outlined key steps that can reduce your risk of getting cancer:

HSC R&D Division, in collaboration with Atlantic Philanthropies, is pleased to give notice of a forthcoming call for research proposals into the ‘Care of People with Dementia in Northern Ireland’. Research topics will be based on a priority setting exercise with key stakeholders in the field of dementia care in Northern Ireland. Research projects must start by January 2014 and will be funded for up to three years. The total funding available for this call is £2m. The call will open on Friday 14 June 2013 and will close on Friday 12 September 2013.

Each year, millions of infections could be prevented through ensuring good hand hygiene, therefore the Public Health Agency (PHA) is taking this message into frequently visited public places and is reminding the public to ‘clean your hands’ on the World Health Organisation’s ‘Save Lives: Clean Your Hands’ day. Dr Lourda Geoghegan, Consultant in Health Protection at the PHA, said: “This year we decided to focus on the importance of good hand hygiene for everyone, so we have come to a shopping centre to remind the general public to ‘clean your hands’.

With the FA Cup and the Champions League finals about to kick off, the Public Health Agency (PHA) is urging football fans to watch their alcohol intake while they enjoy watching the matches. Owen O’Neill, the PHA’s Drug and Alcohol Lead, said: “The two finals are exciting events that football fans will enjoy, but it is important to be smart about alcohol and keep an eye on the amount you’re drinking.

The Public Health Agency (PHA) and Cancer Focus Northern Ireland warned today (May 6), at the start of Sun Awareness Week, that half the population is unaware of their own skin type, which may affect their behaviour and put them at risk of cancer. New research from the British Association of Dermatologists (BAD) shows that 50% of the UK population thinks that their skin is darker than it actually is, which may mean they don’t take enough care in the sun.