New Strategic Direction for Alcohol & Drugs 2006-2011- NSD Update (April 2010) (PDF 611KB)

An update on the implementation and delivery of the New Strategic Direction on Alcohol and Drugs 2006-2011 (NSD)

Addressing Young People's Drinking in Northern Ireland: Action to Support the New Strategic Direction for Alcohol and Drugs

This action plan focuses on three main areas: • reducing young people’s demand for alcohol by providing information, education and training to young people and their parents; •restricting the supply of alcohol via measures to reduce accessibility to alcohol (including how alcohol is priced, marketed, and promoted); and • providing treatment and support for those who require additional help. While the emphasis of this action plan is on young people, it recognises that their drinking patterns are very much influenced by modelling the drinking patterns of adults in our society, and it therefore contains actions that will impact on the entire population. Alcohol misuse - however you measure the cost, whether to the individual, the family, the community, the health service, or society as a whole - is one of the biggest public health issues facing Northern Ireland.

Strategic Resources Framework Report 2008/09 (PDF 532KB)

Strategic Resources Framework Report for 2008/09

Strategic Resources Framework Report 2008/09 - Appendices (PDF 892KB)

Appendices to the Strategic Resources Framework Report for 2008/09

Monitoring the domiciliary and peridomiciliary invasion process of Triatoma rubrovaria in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

The presence of Triatoma rubrovaria in Brazil has only been confirmed in the States of Paraná and Rio Grande do Sul (RS), where it is found naturally infected with Trypanosoma cruzi. In the wild environment it occurs in rocky habitats and has an eclectic diet, feeding from cockroaches, reptiles and mammals. Data from the Chagas Disease Control Program obtained by the Fundação Nacional de Saúde, between 1975 and 1997, indicate a growing domiciliary and peridomiciliary invasion of T. rubrovaria in RS, where it has become the most frequently Triatominae species captured in this state since the control of Triatoma infestans. In order to monitor this process, we analyzed collection data derived from 22 years of control campaigns against T. infestans. Collection data for triatomines from domestic habitats show an inverse relationship, with high numbers of T. infestans and low numbers of T. rubrovaria during 1976-1987, compared to the following ten years, 1986-1997, when the number of T. infestans dropped drastically and that of T. rubrovaria increased. There are no consistent indications of intradomiciliary colonization by T. rubrovaria, since only low numbers of nymphs have been captured in the intradomiciliary ecotopes. Nevertheless, this species appears to have preadaptive characteristics for anthropic ecotopes, and should be kept under constant epidemiological surveillance.

Strategic Resources Framework Report 2007/08 (PDF 455 KB)

Strategic Resources Framework Report for 2007/08

Strategic Resources Framework 2007-08 Appendices (PDF 594 KB)

Appendices to the Strategic Resources Framework Report for 2007/08

Strategic Resources Framework Report for 2006-2007 (PDF 694 KB)

Strategic Resources Framework Report for 2006/07.

Strategic Resources Framework 2006-2007 Appendices (PDF 4056 KB)

Appendices to the Strategic Resources Framework Report for 2006/07.

Productivity in southern European small firms: When and how work organization complements process innovation

The aim of this paper is to analyse the effects of human capital, advanced manufacturing technologies (AMT), and new work organizational practices on firm productivity, while taking into account the synergies existing between them. This study expands current knowledge in this area in two ways. First, in contrast with previous works, we focus on AMT and not ICT (information and communication technologies). Second, we use a unique employer-employee data set for small firms in a particular area of southern Europe (Catalonia, Spain). Using a small firm data set, allows us to analyse the particular case of small and medium enterprises, since we cannot assume they have the same characteristics as large firms. The results provide evidence in favor of the complementarity hypothesis between human capital, advanced manufacturing technologies, and new work organization practices, although we show that the complementarity effects depend on what type of work organization practices are used by a firm. For small and medium Catalan firms, the only set of work organization practices that improve the benefits of human capital and technology investment are those practices which are more quality oriented, such as quality circles, problem-solving groups or total quality management.

New Strategic Direction for Alcohol and Drugs (2006-2011) (Online Publication)

Executive Summary and Strategy Document (May 2006) The New Strategic Direction has a set of overarching long-term aims to: • Provide accessible and effective treatment and support for people who are consuming alcohol and/or using drugs in a potentially hazardous, harmful or dependent way. • Reduce the level, breadth and depth of alcohol and drug-related harm to users, their families and/or their carers and the wider community. • Increase awareness on all aspects of alcohol and drug-related harm in all settings and for all age groups. • Integrate those policies which contribute to the reduction of alcohol and drug-related harm into all Government Department strategies. • Develop a competent skilled workforce across all sectors that can respond to the complexities of alcohol and drug use and misuse. • Promote opportunities for those under the age of 18 years to develop appropriate skills, attitudes and behaviours to enable them to resist societal pressures to drink alcohol and/or use illicit drugs, with a particular emphasis on those identified as potentially vulnerable. • Reduce the availability of illicit drugs in Northern Ireland åÊ