Health Promotion Agency reaches finals of UK health awards

The Health Promotion Agency for Northern Ireland today announced that despite stiff competition its folic acid campaign has reached the UK finals of the Health Service Journal (HSJ) Management Awards. The news was announced during the launch of the Agency's tenth annual report highlighting many aspects of the organisation's work undertaken during the year.

The Agency's public information campaign on folic acid which is featured in the annual report was put forward for the communications category of the Awards and has been short-listed to the final three out of hundreds of applications from across the UK. The aim of the campaign was to raise awareness of the benefits of folic acid and to encourage women planning pregnancy or likely to become pregnant to take this supplement before conceiving and up to the 12th week of pregnancy.

The report outlines how the Agency continues to provide policy advice to government and a variety of organisations, information based on up-to-date research for public and professionals, and specialist training and professional development for a wide range of individuals in the implementation of health promotion programmes.

Chief Executive of the Health Promotion Agency, Dr Brian Gaffney, said: "Reaching the final stage of the HSJ Management Awards is well deserved recognition for the ongoing work of the Agency in getting information to members of the public to protect and promote their good health. This campaign involved a lot of team-work and evaluation of it has been very positive. After running in Northern Ireland it was launched as an all-island campaign by the Minister for Health, Social Services and Public Safety, Bairbre de Brún and Micheál Martin, Ireland's Minster for Health and Children, in November last year.

"The good news is both encouraging and motivating for staff and we look forward to the final outcome of the awards next month."

There have been a number of high profile campaigns during the year and these form the visible part of the Agency's work but much time is spent on research, analysis and evaluation, which provide information to inform the development of the Agency's work as a whole. Research also enables the Agency to contribute to the development of strategies which address regional health priorities such as alcohol, tobacco, drugs, nutrition, physical activity, sexual health and mental health.

The Annual report also features the Agency's formal recognition as a centre of excellence by the World Health Organization through its designation as a WHO Collaborating Centre. This reinforces the importance of the Agency's work in health promotion policy and practice at a global level.

The Annual report is accompanied by a special document highlighting achievements from the first ten years of the Agency's existence. Dr Gaffney said: "Since its establishment the Agency has worked to address a wide range of health issues often in association with partners drawn from a wide range of organisations, groups and individuals from the public, community, voluntary and private sectors. These alliances are continuing to underpin the development of much of the Agency's work. Considerable emphasis has been given to the prevention of heart disease and cancer, with major investments in the prevention of smoking, promotion of healthy eating, and efforts to get more people involved in physical activity.

"It is impossible to cover all of the Agency's work that has formed part of a decade of ongoing development of health promotion. However we hope this document will present a clear outline of the Agency's role in improving and promoting health and give a flavour of the breadth and depth of this work."

The Agency would like to thank the Bank of Ireland, the Dairy Council for Northern Ireland, McNaughton Paper (NI) Ltd and W & G Baird Ltd for making the production of this tenth anniversary document possible. Copies of the annual report and tenth anniversary document are available from this website.

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