We’re pleased to bring you our round-up highlighting some of PHE’s online activity from the past week. Here’s your chance to catch up on what you might have missed including:
Antimicrobial resistance
Antimicrobial resistance is one of PHE’s 7 key priorities so we welcome the creation of the new Fleming Fund which will see the UK Government working with the Wellcome Trust and other global organisations to tackle the growing problem of drug-resistant infection. Our video below explains what antibiotic resistance is and why it matters.
Whole-school approaches to emotional health and wellbeing
On Friday we published guidance for head teachers and college principals on the 8 principles for promoting emotional health and wellbeing in schools and colleges.
Chikungunya
This week we published chikungunya annual data showing a 12-fold increase from 24 cases in 2013 to 295 cases in 2014 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The majority of cases (88%) were acquired on trips to the Caribbean and South America. Chikungunya is a travel-associated infection and does not occur in the UK.
Salt awareness
This week was salt awareness week. We used the opportunity to highlight salt advice from our Change 4 Life campaign and promote our blood pressure quiz.
What do you know about #BloodPressure? Take our quiz here: http://t.co/UXr3QJE4LX #SaltAwarenessWeek pic.twitter.com/dwJlu8nNjF
— UK Health Security Agency (@UKHSA) March 18, 2015
Radon
You may not have heard of it, but radon is a part of your life – wherever you live. This week we blogged about five important facts every home owner should know about radon, including how it can affect your home and your health.
Dental health
On Thursday the Health and Social Care Information Centre published Child Dental Health Survey 2013, England, Wales and Northern Ireland. We welcomed the overall fall in tooth decay but there is no room for complacency. Tooth decay is preventable and children from low income families are twice as likely to suffer.
Partial eclipse
Did you see the eclipse? This week we pointed people towards some safety guidance from the Royal Astronomical Society.
The @RoyalAstroSoc has advice on safely viewing this Friday’s partial #eclipse of the sun http://t.co/t16VYRYeKC pic.twitter.com/ROADHoIELu
— UK Health Security Agency (@UKHSA) March 17, 2015
Sierra Leone Ebola labs
Neil Bentley, PHE’s Head of Specialist Microbiology Technical Services, has recently travelled to Sierra Leone to help set up three new Ebola laboratories. We asked him some questions about this vital project.
Screening
From April 2015 pregnant women in England will be offered first trimester screening for the rare chromosomal conditions, Edward’s syndrome and Patau’s syndrome (T18/T13). These conditions are currently screened for in England during the second trimester in pregnancy. The change follows updated guidance for the NHS Fetal Anomaly Screening Programme; ensuring women continue to receive early, high quality information about their pregnancy. The updated guidance also includes information on Down’s syndrome second trimester screening for twin pregnancies and the addition of an extra cardiac scan view – further information can be found in factsheets for health professionals published this week. The changes will be reflected in the parent leaflet; Screening Tests for You and Your Baby and updated health professional guidance from the 1 April. Translations of Screening Tests for You and Your Baby, the leaflet given to all parents-to-be in England, are now available in the following languages; Bengali, Punjabi, Portuguese, Polish, Urdu, Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), French, Somali and Romanian. An easy read version will also be available soon.
Applied Epidemiology conference
This week we hosted an epidemiology conference which saw experts from across the UK discussing subjects from Ebola and flu to genomic sequencing and antimicrobial resistance.
Ebola testing
How do we test for Ebola in the UK? What’s a ‘suspected’ case? This week we Tweeted a new Ebola graphic and linked to a recent blog which answers these questions.
How do we test for #Ebola in the UK? What’s a ‘suspected’ case? Click here to find out more: http://t.co/16D5zy3Ndp pic.twitter.com/dErOfT9nZs
— UK Health Security Agency (@UKHSA) March 16, 2015