HEPATITIS B SCREENING: The Department of Health is set to introduce a new scheme to test for the Hepatitis B virus in expectant mothers, writes Martin Wall.
The move to establish an anti-natal screening programme for Hepatitis B is being put in place following a Health Service Executive (HSE) recommendation.
A HSE spokesman said the programme's aim was to identify mothers with the Hepatitis B virus. The HSE said babies could then be vaccinated in a bid to prevent them becoming chronic carriers of the condition.
Hepatitis B is an inflammation of the liver caused by the Hepatitis B virus and affects millions of people worldwide. About 70-90 per cent of people infected as infants and young children and 5-10 per cent of people infected as adults develop chronic (long-term) hepatitis B infection. Those who develop chronic infection are at increased risk of developing chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis and liver cancer. Premature death from chronic liver disease occurs in 15-25 per cent of chronically infected people.
The HSE spokesman said it was establishing an implementation team to put in place the new anti-natal screening programme.
COMMUNICATION SEMINAR: The importance of communication within families and how to improve such communication if it has broken down will be addressed by clinical psychologist Marie Murray at a seminar in the Bank of Ireland Arts Centre, Foster Place, Dublin 2, next Monday, September 19th.
Ms Murray, who is a columnist with the Health Supplement, is also a clinical psychologist, director of psychology at St Vincent's Hospital, Fairview and director of the Dublin Archdiocese Research Project on the Family.
This talk will examine the importance of communication in the family - how to help children to communicate their feelings; how to talk to adolescents; how adolescents can talk to parents; and how to begin communicating if communication is not happening.
It is designed by Parentline to help families communicate. The seminar starts at 7.30pm and admission is free. For further information: www.parentline.ie or LoCall 1890927277.
NORTH'S MENTAL HEALTH: The largest ever study into the mental health of Northern Ireland is to be carried out by University of Ulster researchers. The aim of the project is to gauge the state of Northern Ireland families' physical and emotional health. The researchers will examine all aspects of mental health covering a wide range of issues including depression, eating disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder and alcohol abuse.
The study, being carried out by Dr Siobhan McCann and Dr Sam Murphy, will be used to help set priorities for health provision in the future.
The Northern Ireland Study of Health and Stress is part of a global initiative launched by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Northern Ireland is one of 27 other countries taking part.
HEART CONFERENCE: Heart Children Ireland is holding its annual conference this Saturday, September 17th in Jury's Inn on Custom House Quay, Dublin at 10am. The conference is open to parents of children with a congenital heart disorder or to anyone with an interest in this area. Lars Nolke, the new cardio-thoracic surgeon at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin, is the main speaker.
ELDERLY HEALTH: The Health Service Executive (HSE) South Eastern Area is conducting research in the health of older people living in the region. It says that, to date, population health surveys involving older people in Ireland have excluded those in acute and long-stay care settings.
"Similarly, there is little research on the change in patterns of health and health behaviour of older people in Ireland over the 'Celtic tiger' period of great socio-economic change," it says. The study will examine older people's health and their use of health services in the south east.
Dr Jane Whelan of the Public Health Department in the HSE's south eastern area is conducting the research. "The study population will be drawn from a random sample of those over 70 years of age and on the GMS database. Individuals selected will be contacted by telephone/letter, to arrange an appropriate time for the researcher to call to their place of residence," she says.
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