Vol 3 Issue 1 - March
2009
Welcome to Public Health News in Ireland
Inside this
issue
IPH presents
evidence to obesity inquiry
Presenting evidence to the Northern
Ireland Assembly Health Committee, IPH Chief Executive, Dr Jane
Wilde stressed the need for a strategic approach in tackling
obesity. She also identified the importance of urgent and short term
action to support those vulnerable to obesity. Dr Wilde advocated
incentives to promote cross departmental working, agreement on
targets and intermediate outcomes and recommended the Health
Committee convene a round table meeting to assist in strengthening
links between research, policy and practice.
IPH written evidence will be published by the
Northern Ireland Health Committee at a later date. Access a
summary of IPH evidence here
Health
Inequalities Indicators in the Regions of Europe:
I2SARE
IPH recently hosted a meeting
of the I2SARE project, which will make it easier for decision makers
to compare the health of those living in different sub-national
regions across the EU. I2SARE aims to assist European,
national, regional and local decision makers in developing health
policies, through a better understanding of population health status
and health inequalities at regional and local level. IPH is
responsible for providing data from Ireland and Northern
Ireland. For more information
please visit http://www.i2sare.eu/.
Fuel
poverty
IPH presented evidence on the
role of affordable energy in promoting health and social inclusion
at a recent meeting of the Interdepartmental Group on Affordable
Energy in Ireland. Access
IPH presentation here.
The information booklet, ‘Keep well and warm’
has been updated. It brings together all information and
support available to householders who may experience difficulties
keeping well and warm during winter. Access the booklet here
http://www.wellandwarm.ie
A national insulation scheme launched by the
Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources will lead
to improved household energy efficiency. Welcoming the initiative,
IPH highlighted international evidence demonstrating associated
health benefits. Access
further information
here.
Research
update
Recent studies show that
tackling fuel poverty is associated with improvements in the health
and development of children, including halving the incidence of
respiratory illness.
C.Liddell (2008). Save the Children Policy
Briefing on the Impact of Fuel Poverty on Children. Access
the report here.
Injury
projects in Ireland
A recent meeting
of the steering group of the Injury Observatory for
Britain and
Ireland (IOBI) took place in Dublin and featured current
projects on injury prevention, information and research. Access
presentations here.
Projects will be featured in up-coming issues
of ‘Injury Prevention News’. Subscribe
here.
 IPH seminars discuss
Report of the Commission on Social Determinants of Health
(CSDH)
Two recent IPH seminars focused
on the World Health Organization (WHO) CSDH report, Closing the gap
in a generation: health equity through action on the social
determinants of health. Dr Sharon Friel, Principal Researcher, CSDH,
gave an account of the report’s development. Dr Friel and IPH Chief
Executive Dr Jane Wilde met with the Department of Health, Social
Services and Public Safety and the Department of Health and Children
to discuss the report and explore its relevance to work in
Ireland, North and South.
Access Dr Friel’s seminar presentation and the CSDH report here
Are you
interested in food poverty or public health
advocacy?
Get involved in a PHAII
Special Interest Group
The Public
Health Alliance for the island of Ireland (PHAII) is setting up
Special Interest Groups (SIGs) in each of these areas and inviting
people to join. Members can input to meetings by email or telephone.
SIGs will develop workplans identifying specific areas of work such
as lobbying government. To join please email Helen Gilmore at helen.gilmore@phaii.org by
Friday, 3 April.
HIA Forums:
progressing HIA
IPH held two HIA Forum
sessions at the end of 2008. ‘HIA and Mental Wellbeing’
reviewed how HIA can be used to ensure the mental health impacts of
any proposal are taken into consideration. DHSSPS will conduct
a HIA on the Mental Health and Wellbeing Promotion Strategy.
‘Prioritising health in policy and project appraisal’ discussed HIA
and other impact assessments and resulted in the creation of a HIA
network for Cork based organisations. To
join this network please email Monica O’Mullane m.omullane@ucc.ie
Access further
information on HIA Forums here.
Keep up to
date with IPH
If you would like
to keep up to date with IPH, please sign up on our website to
receive RSS feeds or follow us via Twitter.
Access further
information here http://www.publichealth.ie
Consultations
Northern
Ireland Utility Regulator’s
Social Action Plan 2009-2014
The
Social Action Plan relates to the role of energy suppliers in
ensuring vulnerable customers have essential energy supplies. IPH
submitted a response to this consultation in the context of our fuel
poverty and health work. Access
IPH response here.
Department of Agriculture
and Rural Development (DARD) – Rural anti-poverty/Social inclusion
Framework
DARD’s Rural
anti-poverty/social inclusion framework aims to strengthen the
social and economic infrastructure of rural areas and highlights
five key areas for action, including addressing fuel poverty in
rural areas. The IPH response calls for greater recognition of
potential health impacts of the framework and the need for
cross-sectoral action to implement it. Access
IPH response here.
Department of the
Environment (DoE) – Planning Policy Statement 21
(PPS21)
PPS21 sets out objectives for
Sustainable Development in the Countryside. In responding, IPH
identify a number of potential health impacts including providing
employment opportunities through farm diversification. Other issues
include access to open space and housing located close to
traditional focal points. IPH call for routine adoption of
Health Impact Assessment’s (HIAs) for all new countryside
developments. Access
IPH response here.
Resources
HIA Website list of
Resources
A range of tools have been
developed to support those conducting HIA by the WHO Healthy Cities
HIA Sub-Network. The first publication, ‘Internet resources
for Health Impact Assessment’, is now available
here. Further publications of the HIA
Sub-Network will be available shortly from http://www.publichealth.ie/hia
 All-Ireland Monitoring
of local health and social
wellbeing
There is
currently no system for monitoring local health and social wellbeing
across the island of Ireland. To support
development of an agreed suite of indicators, INIsPHO has created an
all-Ireland dataset entitled the All-Ireland Health and Wellbeing
Dataset (AIHWDS) www.inispho.org/aihwds.
Users will now be able to compare a wide range of indicators that
will allow them to obtain a more comprehensive profile of a
particular area.
Email mailto:lindi.gatchell@publichealth.ie
New member websites join
AIeHL
New members of the All-Ireland
electronic Health Library (AIeHL) include:
- Community Development
and Health Network (CDHN)
- Centre for Ageing
Research and Development in Ireland
(CARDI)
- HRB Publications (HRB)
- Health Promoting
Hospitals and Health Services Network (HPH)
AIeHL aims to support effective
decision-making in health and social wellbeing with easier access to
health information. Access further information from www.aiehl.org
Email feedback to
louise.bradley@publichealth.ie
Events
Health Impact Assessment
(HIA) Forum – 28 April and 7 May
HIA
Forum events in 2009 will focus on HIA as a tool to support
healthier communities. The events will take place:
Tuesday 28
April, 10am – 2pm, The Gasyard, Derry
Thursday 7 May, 10am –
2pm, Merlin Park University Hospital, Galway
Further details available http://www.publichealth.ie/ireland/hiaforum
Aspects of area level
data: pros and cons – 8 May
The next
Health Analysts’ Special Interest Group (HASIG) seminar will focus
on different aspects of area level data. Confirmed speakers include
Martin Charlton, National Centre for Geocomputation and Fiona
Johnston, Northern Ireland Neighbourhood Information Service
(NINIS). The seminar will take place in Dundalk Institute of
Technology. Email lorraine.fahy@publichealth.ie
 ‘The Spirit Level: Why
more equal societies almost always do better’ – June
Epidemiologists Richard
Wilkinson and Kate Pickett will highlight their findings from this
recently published book detailing the effects of income inequality.
Final dates to be confirmed for
Belfast and Dublin events. Access
further information http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk
Men’s Health Week –
15-21 June
One of the biggest risks
to men’s health is their reluctance to seek help from services.
Men’s Health Week 2009 aims to encourage men not to be embarrassed
about seeking help and make them aware of the range of services
available.
Access
further information here.
Belfast Healthy Cities
20th Anniversary Lecture to be given by Professor Sir Michael Marmot
- 8 October
Further information
available from http://www.belfasthealthycities.com
6th Population Health Autumn School - 1 and 2 October, Queens University Belfast
Building
on the success of previous summers schools in Cork the theme
for this event, jointly hosted by UCC, QUB and IPH, is ‘When is a
simple answer sufficient? Understanding complex interventions
– implications for policy and practice. Further details will
be available soon from http://www.publichealth.ie
Contact
us
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