Health Minister Simon Hamilton today launched Northern Ireland’s new mental health anti-stigma and anti-discrimination campaign. The “Change Your Mind”, campaign supported by Comic Relief, the Public Health Agency (PHA) and Niamh (The Northern Ireland Association for Mental Health) is the first of its kind in Northern Ireland.

The Public Health Agency (PHA) is encouraging all 16 to 18 year olds to get a free vaccination that can help protect against meningococcal disease. Beginning in April, GPs will invite people born between 2 July 1997 and 1 July 1999 to have the MenACWY vaccine. It will protect against four different causes of meningitis and septicaemia – meningococcal A,C,W and Y diseases.

The clocks spring forward this weekend which will give us the chance to get more active in the brighter evenings. There are many ways to kick-start your journey to better health and wellbeing and the Public Health Agency (PHA) says that doing smaller bouts of activity, of 10 minutes or more, will soon add up and can improve your health.

We’re in the middle of lambing season and the Public Health Agency (PHA) is reminding pregnant women about the risk of close contact with sheep during lambing season.

New figures from the Public Health Agency (PHA) reveal that number of reported cases of Tuberculosis (TB) has dropped in Northern Ireland. Today (24 March) is World TB Day and data show that there were 70 cases reported in 2015, a fall of 26% on the previous year. In 2014 there were 97 cases, in 2013 there were 74, and in 2012 there were 87 reported cases.

The Director of Public Health’s Core Tables contain a range of demographic information on population numbers, births and birth rates, deaths and death rates, causes of death and life expectancy. It also includes information on infectious disease notifications, screening uptake rates and self-harm presentations to Emergency departments. The tables and more details are available here Some key points to highlight from the 2014 Core Tables are: