The Public Health Agency’s commitment to giving every child the best start is off to a good start. The issue of the “real brain drain” in the 0–3 year age group has attracted attention from around 250 individuals and organisations attending the PHA Early Years Interventions conference taking place on Tuesday 31 May 2011 at the Octagon, King’s Hall, Balmoral.

The Public Health Agency (PHA) is taking the opportunity to highlight this year’s World No Tobacco Day which takes place on Tuesday 31 May. In Northern Ireland, around 340,000 people aged 16 and over smoke. Smoking contributes not only to many cancers, heart disease, bronchitis and asthma, but to other illnesses, including stroke. In fact, smoking causes around 2,700 deaths per year here, all of them avoidable. The PHA is committed to saving lives by reducing the percentage of people who smoke. The PHA:

The Public Health Agency (PHA) has been made aware that Germany is currently experiencing a large outbreak of Haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) directly related to infections of verocytoxin – producing E. coli (VTEC). Since the second week of May, there have been reports of approximately 214 cases of HUS with two deaths being reported.

**Press release produced by 1visionpr on behalf of TSUK** Dr Eddie Rooney, Chief Executive of the Public Health Agency and Chair of the local organising committee for the games welcomed the celebration and launch of the Westfield Health British Transplant Games at Stormont Buildings, Tuesday 24 May. The British Transplant Games will take place in Belfast from 4–7 August 2011. The games are a great way to celebrate the ‘Gift of life’ and provide an excellent opportunity to promote the NHS Organ Donation Register and encourage everyone in Northern Ireland to sign up.

The Public Health Agency (PHA) is advising that the plume of volcanic ash over the north Atlantic is not currently a risk to public health in Northern Ireland. The previous eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull Icelandic volcano in April 2010 had no impact on public health in the UK and a study of respiratory and related symptoms reported to GPs in the UK in 2010 showed no unusual increases during the period in which the volcanic dust from Iceland was present in the atmosphere.

The Public Health Agency welcomes the second annual Depression Aware Week, 20–27 May 2011.‘Changing Minds’ aims to change people’s minds about depression, raise public and political awareness of the condition, challenge myths and increase knowledge of the support services available to assist people to recover.