Newsbrief
February 2007

Society News

Health News

Health & Safety
News

Events

Consultations

SOCIETY NEWS (6 items) 

1. LET'S GET COOKING
The Royal Society of Health is currently undertaking an in-depth consultation with public health practitioners, young people, teachers and other stakeholders around healthy eating as part of the exciting Let’s Get Cooking Big Lottery Fund bid.  Let’s Get Cooking is a national scheme to encourage and help children and young people to learn to cook and to inspire each other, their parents and others in their local community to prepare and cook good healthy food.  The Society is a core partner of the bid working with the School Food Trust, British Nutritional Foundation, Prince’s Trust, Improvement Foundation and Business in the Community.  The bid will be submitted at the beginning of March and with a response expected by the end of June 2007.  If successful then Let’s Get Cooking will roll out across nine English regions supporting thousands of projects, working with people of all ages and in all types of community – affluent and poor, urban and rural.  The aim is to create a new generation of children who are passionate about good food precisely because they’ve got the knowledge and skills to cook it in the first place. The Society is currently surveying health professionals and professional bodies, teachers, school governors, members of PTAs, school pupils and their parents.  RSH Members are invited to visit rsph.org to take part in the survey.

2. SEMINAR WITH PROFESSOR RICHARD PARISH
Society Chief Executive Professor Richard Parish will be hosting a seminar at Brunel University on Monday 5 February.  The seminar takes the title 'It’s the Health of your State, not the State of your Health that Counts'.  For details, see the Public Health @ Brunel website.

3. MARMOT AND FLINT AT NGO FORUM LECTURE
The NGO Forum is holding its inaugural evening lecture - 'Tackling the social determinants of obesity: why weight?' - on 8 February in London, with special guest Professor Sir Michael Marmot.  Caroline Flint, Minister of State for Public Health will give the opening address. The evening will provide the opportunity to introduce the plans to develop a National NGO Plan for Health. This is the first time that the third sector will be working together in a coordinated and planned way to address a public health issue. The issue to be tackled is obesity with a special focus on children and young people. The aim is to inspire action and identify the steps that have to be taken to make change happen.  NGO Forum members and Members and Fellows of the RSH are invited to attend, however, remaining places are very limited.  Please contact Karen Bollan, Manager of the NGO Forum today.

4. SIR DAVID KING TO DELIVER RSH ANNUAL LECTURE
The UK Government's Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor Sir David King, will be delivering this year's Annual RSH Lecture at the Faculty of Public Health's Annual Conference in June.  Each year the RSH hosts a high-profile lecture at the Faculty's event, and this year Sir David has agreed to speak on the health impacts of climate change.  Visit the Faculty of Public Health website for more information.

5. RSH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING NOTICE
The Society's Annual General Meeting 2007 will take place on Wednesday, 18 July.  Please look for further details in JRSH and on rsph.org.

6. MEMBER BENEFITS
Don't forget to check out RSPH Members' benefits online, including exclusive holiday deals with Thomas Cook (online here) and savings on telecoms charges through LCC Communications. Visit rsph.org/membership/membens.asp.
 

HEALTH NEWS (2 Items)

1. A better deal for mental health in primary care
At the end of January the Mental Health Foundation and the Pharmaceutical Schizophrenia Initiative launched the report 'Primary Concerns: A better deal for mental health in primary care', setting out how to deliver improved primary care services for people with mental health problems.  The report says that Practice Based Commissioning, which enables primary care practices to save money by providing hospital services direct rather than paying for secondary care services, needs to extend to mental health in order to provide a range of services and treatments to patients. This would require commissioning training for GPs and other primary care staff, and the introduction of a national tariff for mental health.  For more, visit mentalhealth.org.uk.

2. YAWS 2
Yaws, a disease which eats away at the skin, cartilage and bones of its victims (mostly children), is re-emerging in poor, rural and marginalized populations of Africa, Asia and South America.  In the 1950s, more than 50 million people worldwide were afflicted by the disease until WHO, in partnership with UNICEF, established a massive global control programme to eliminate it. The Global Yaws Control Programme, fully operational between 1952 and 1964, succeeded in treating 300 million people in 50 countries - reducing global levels of the disease by more than 95% and virtually eradicating yaws.  However, after the programme's enormous success, sustained surveillance of yaws diminished, which has now given way to its resurgence in the 21st century.  Today, more than 500 000 are afflicted by yaws.  For more, visit the WHO website here.

HEALTH & SAFETY NEWS (1 item)

1. IOSH SHOOTS DOWN FOOTBALL BAN
The Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) have criticised Burnham Grammar School's decision to ban football on the grounds of safety as 'political correctness gone mad'.  IOSH said that such actions undermined the true purpose of health and safety.  For more, see the IOSH website.

EVENTS (1 item)

3rd National Conference on Obesity and Health
19-20 March 2007, Manchester Conference Centre, UK
This year's programme offers a range of specialists from primary care and community initiatives from all over the UK as well as some overseas contributions. The topics range from perspectives to strategies and treatment programmes related to the prevention and management of obesity. Speakers to include Carl-Erik Flodmark from Malmo, Sweden, to the Conference to present on Childhood Obesity: Standardised Obesity Family Therapy. For more information, visit obesityandhealth.co.uk.

Low Carbon Economy
25-26 April 2007, Dunchurch Park Hotel and Conference Centre, Rugby, UK
This two-day event is organised by the Institution of Chemical Engineers' Environment Subject Group and is supported by the Coal Research Forum and the Energy Conversion Subject Group.  Topics covered include: Meteorology, Atmospheric Chemistry and Climate Physics
Non Fossil Fuels: Benefits and Challenges of Bio Fuels
New Technologies and Upcoming Concepts.  For more information click here.
 

                                                                                                       CONSULTATIONS

For the latest consultations visit our website here.