As the winter months are approaching, the Public Health Agency (PHA) is using Global Handwashing Day on 15 October to remind people of the need to maintain good hand hygiene. This will help to reduce the risk of picking up or spreading winter viruses such as influenza and norovirus Hand washing with soap and warm water is the most effective way to prevent the spread of infections which can cause inconvenience and in some cases lead to serious illness.

Today marks this year’s World Mental Health Day, which aims to raise public awareness about the wide range of mental health issues which people experience. While there remains an element of taboo around discussing mental health, the fact is that around one in five people in Northern Ireland experience mental ill health at some stage in their lives.

Health Minister Edwin Poots MLA and Olympian Dame Mary Peters have jointly opened a new community gym in Lisburn established to improve the health and wellbeing of local people. Lagan View Community Gym in Old Warren is jointly funded by the Public Health Agency (PHA) and the Resurgam Community Development Trust. The gym will offer the people in the area an opportunity to try a wide range of activities such as cycling, rowing and weight training.

October marks the beginning of autumn and the official start of the seasonal flu vaccination programme for 2013/2014. The Public Health Agency (PHA) is urging all people whose health could be seriously affected by flu to get the free flu vaccine. GPs across Northern Ireland will be inviting the over 65s, pregnant women, and children and adults with some serious medical conditions to have the flu vaccine as flu can be particularly serious for these groups.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, so the Public Health Agency (PHA) is urging all women to be ‘breast aware’ and to think about attending for screening when invited. In 2011/12 a total of 76,179 women aged 50–70 were invited for screening with 55,819 attending. This means that more than a quarter of women who were invited did not take up the offer of screening mammography.

Smoking is the single greatest cause of preventable illness, premature death and health inequality throughout Northern Ireland with around 2,300 people dying prematurely each year from smoking-related illnesses such as coronary heart disease, stroke and many cancers. With this in mind the Public Health Agency (PHA) is urging all local smokers to support ‘Stoptober’ – a campaign running in England and Wales to encourage smokers to go smoke-free during the month of October.

A pilot pharmacy project which focuses on improving the sexual health of young women and reducing teenage pregnancy is being launched today by the Public Health Agency (PHA) and Health and Social Care Board (HSCB). The ‘Be Safe’ Belfast pilot has been developed to enable community pharmacies to provide sexual health assessment to women aged between 16 and 19 years old. The pilot service will initially be offered in North and West Belfast. The primary aim of the service is to reduce the teenage pregnancy levels in these areas.

The Public Health Agency (PHA) is launching a new routine shingles vaccination programme, available from 1 October, for all people aged 70 and a catch-up programme for people aged 79 years old to help protect against the common and painful skin disease.

Now that autumn is underway, the Public Health Agency (PHA) is reminding parents of primary six children who are in the first phase of the childhood flu programme to avail of the flu vaccine. This year the vaccine will be offered to school year primary six as well as children aged two and three years. The vaccine will help protect children against flu and reduce its spread. School nurses will be administering the flu vaccine to primary six children at schools across Northern Ireland from the beginning of October 2013.