The Public Health Agency (PHA) is urging Northern Ireland parents to make sure children in ‘at risk’ groups get their flu vaccine early. The message has been issued to parents and carers of children as the PHA’s seasonal flu vaccination programme gets underway for 2011/12. It is very important that children with any condition that puts them more at risk of the complications of flu get the vaccine. These ‘at risk’ conditions include:

The Public Health Agency (PHA) is launching its ‘Under the surface’ multimedia public information campaign on Thursday 6 October 2011. The campaign aims to raise awareness of the early warning signs that could indicate a mental health issue and encourage people to seek help. ‘Under the surface’ will be broadcast from 10 October (World Mental Health Day) to 20 November (National Suicide Survivors’ day) and will be carried in local press, on radio, TV, online and on the campaign website www.mindingyourhead.info

Saturday 8 October 2011 marks World Hospice and Palliative Care Day. The Public Health Agency (PHA) would like to celebrate and support hospice and palliative care around the world by raising awareness and understanding of the needs – medical, social, practical and spiritual – of people living with a life-limiting illness, and their families.

Pregnant women are more likely to develop serious complications as a result of flu compared to women who are not pregnant, so the message from the Public Health Agency (PHA) is to protect yourself and your baby by getting the flu vaccine. Each year the flu vaccine protects against the three most common strains of flu and this year includes swine flu (H1N1), which is particularly dangerous for pregnant women.