Lifeline Consultation Report - A summary of the feedback to the Public Health Agency's public consultation process on the Lifeline Crisis Response Service

This report is a summary of the feedback from the public consultation process on the current Lifeline contract and future options.

Director of Public Health annual report 2010 and core tables 2009

This�second annual report of the Director of Public Health highlights the many public health challenges that affect people in Northern Ireland.It demonstrates how the public health team tackles this complex agenda by working with many statutory, community and voluntary partner organisations across health, local government, education, housing and other sectors.

Joint Commissioning Plan of the Health and Social Care Board and the Public Health Agency: 2010-2011

Legislation enacted on 1 April 2009 created a new Commissioning system with the establishment of a region-wide Health and Social Care Board, including 5 Local Commissioning Groups (LCGs), and a Public Health Agency. In line with Departmental direction and guidance the objectives of the new commissioning arrangementswere to:- Approach the future delivery of Health and Social Care from a region-wide perspective focused on outcomes.- Ensure local sensitivity through the creation of five Local Commissioning Groups reflective of their areas.

Public Health Agency Business plan 2010-2011

This second corporate business plan explains the purpose of the PHA and focuses on health improvement, health protection and addressing health inequalities. The business plan is available to download below.

Director of Public Health annual report 2009 and core tables 2008

This first annual report of the Director of Public Health highlights the many public health challenges that affect people in Northern Ireland and how the�public health team tackles this complex agenda by working with many statutory, community and voluntary partner organisations across health, local government, education, housing and other sectors.

Four decades of public health

Four decades of public health is a comprehensive history of public health in Northern Ireland�from 1973-2009. The project collected an oral history from public health professionals.

Public Health Agency Annual Business Plan 2015-2016

This Business Plan sets out the key priorities and actions that will be progressed by the Public Health Agency (PHA) in 2015/16. The PHA believes that these actions will have the biggest impact on improving levels of health and social wellbeing, protecting the health of the community, and ensuring patients continue to receive high quality and safe treatment and care services.The business plan is available to download below.

Public Health Agency Self- Harm Symposium Conference Report

Public Health Agency Self- Harm Symposium 27 February 2015, Conference Report.

Comprehensive tobacco action plan for Andalusia 2005-2010 [Recurso electrónico] : Andalusian Public Health System

Es versión en inglés del Plan Integral de Tabaquismo de Andalucía. Publicado en la página web de la Consejería de Salud: www.juntadeandalucia.es/salud (Consejería de Salud / Ciudadanía / Quiénes somos / Planes y Estrategias)

Childbirth and labour plan Andalusian public health System

En la cub.: Plan de parto y nacimiento. Publicado en la página web de la Consejería de Salud y Bienestar Social: www.juntadeandalucia.es/salud (Consejería de Salud y Bienestar Social / Ciudadanía / Inicio / Nuestra salud / Vida sana / Embarazo y salud)

The andalusian comprehensive cancer plan 2002-2006 : Andalusian Public Health System

Cancer is a major health problem in our Autonomous Community and is the second cause of death in both males and females. The incidence, mortality, potential years of life lost and resource consumption alongside the suffering endured by patients and families call for a commitment to be made by the Health Administration, healthcare professionals, patients and caregivers. This Plan is based on updated analyses of the mortality, incidence and survival of Cancer in Andalusia, of the situation of Cancer care and the resources available and of the expectations of patients and main caregivers, and on the conclusions of different Work Groups on the Management of Processes related to Cancer. The Andalusian Comprehensive Cancer Plan establishes an action programme that involves organisational and functional changes, new proposals for the training of professionals and a specific funding base.

Why Public Health Agencies Cannot Depend on Good Laboratory Practices as a Criterion for Selecting Data: The Case of Bisphenol A

In their safety evaluations of bisphenol A (BPA), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and a counterpart in Europe, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), have given special prominence to two industry-funded studies that adhered to standards defined by Good Laboratory Practices (GLP). These same agencies have given much less weight in risk assessments to a large number of independently replicated non-GLP studies conducted with government funding by the leading experts in various fields of science from around the world. OBJECTIVES: We reviewed differences between industry-funded GLP studies of BPA conducted by commercial laboratories for regulatory purposes and non-GLP studies conducted in academic and government laboratories to identify hazards and molecular mechanisms mediating adverse effects. We examined the methods and results in the GLP studies that were pivotal in the draft decision of the U.S. FDA declaring BPA safe in relation to findings from studies that were competitive for U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding, peer-reviewed for publication in leading journals, subject to independent replication, but rejected by the U.S. FDA for regulatory purposes. DISCUSSION: Although the U.S. FDA and EFSA have deemed two industry-funded GLP studies of BPA to be superior to hundreds of studies funded by the U.S. NIH and NIH counterparts in other countries, the GLP studies on which the agencies based their decisions have serious conceptual and methodologic flaws. In addition, the U.S. FDA and EFSA have mistakenly assumed that GLP yields valid and reliable scientific findings (i.e., "good science"). Their rationale for favoring GLP studies over hundreds of publically funded studies ignores the central factor in determining the reliability and validity of scientific findings, namely, independent replication, and use of the most appropriate and sensitive state-of-the-art assays, neither of which is an expectation of industry-funded GLP research. CONCLUSIONS: Public health decisions should be based on studies using appropriate protocols with appropriate controls and the most sensitive assays, not GLP. Relevant NIH-funded research using state-of-the-art techniques should play a prominent role in safety evaluations of chemicals.

Tire-breeding mosquitoes of public health importance along an urbanisation gradient in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Used vehicle tires are a source of mosquito vectors and a means of their introduction and expansion. With the aim of assessing the effects of urbanisation on the main mosquito vectors in temperate Argentina, the infestation levels of Aedes aegypti (L.) and Culex pipiens L. were studied in used tires from highly urbanised cities to low-urbanised small towns in Buenos Aires. Immatures of both species accounted for 96% of the 9,722 individuals collected; the total individuals collected represented seven species. The percentage of water-filled tires containing mosquitoes [container index (CI)] was 33% and the percentage of infested sites [site index (SI)] was 65.2%. These indexes decreased significantly from low to high urbanisation levels for both mosquito species. The relative abundance (RA) of Ae. aegypti immatures was slightly higher toward large cities, but showed no difference for Cx. pipiens. The CI of shaded tires was significantly higher than the CI of exposed tires for both mosquito species. There was no difference in RA values between shaded and sunlit tires. The CI and the SI were highest during the summer across the urbanisation levels, except for Cx. pipiens, which continued to increase during the autumn in small towns. Results related to urbanisation gradient, sunlit exposure and seasonality are discussed.

A shared space. [Q]uality Plan of the Andalusian Public Health System 2010 - 2014

The Quality Plan aims to create an image of the health system as an intelligent system comprised of knowledge-generating organisations integrated into a much more comprehensive paradigm in line with knowledge societies; a health system which is part of an equally intelligent and innovative society that acknowledges the use of science and technology both as a source of welfare and as a means of solving many of its problems. The aim of this document is to collate the many activities which comprise three scenarios (citizens, professionals and shared space) and establish the roadmap for the quality policy strategies designed by the Ministry of Health of the Regional Government of Andalusia for the coming years and also to open the necessary channels of communication with society so that society itself, as well as being the beneficiary of the outcomes, also becomes the main protagonist.