{jcomments off}Jog Belfast is a free, fun, 10 week training programme for beginners.  The course is aimed at people who have not run before, and will help them to complete a 5km run in 10 weeks.  The next 10 week programme starts in September 2014, and training will be held at a range of locations across Belfast.  Each session lasts for an hour.  For more information, or to register, visit www.activeni.org or phone Matt Shields on 07595 269308.  Jog Belfast is open to people of all ages and abilities.

{jcomments off}‘Let's Talk About ... Safer Sex’ is a four day Training for Trainers Programme.  The primary aim is to train youth and community workers to deliver HIV, hepatitis, and sexual health education programmes to the groups in their care.  The next programme will take place on Thursday 25th September, Thursday 2nd October, Thursday 9th October and Thursday 16th October 2014.  Sessions will last from 10.00am to 4.30pm each day, and will take place in Dublin AIDS Alliance, 53 Parnell Square West, Dublin 1.  On completion of the training, each participant will receive a copy of the 'Let's Talk About ... Safer Sex' training resource.  Further information is available at: www.dublinaidsalliance.ie/index.php?page=training or by emailing: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

{jcomments off}Age NI and ARK invite you to a conference titled: ‘At the Crossroads: Preparing for an Ageing Population’.  This conference will bring together leading experts on ageing, and will explore how policy makers and service providers in Northern Ireland can best prepare for demographic change.  Academics and practitioners will present their analyses and recommendations on key issues including dementia, housing, employment, building an age-friendly Northern Ireland, effective consultation processes, and engaging with ‘hard to reach’ groups.  This conference will take place on Wednesday 27th August 2014, from 9.30am - 4.00pm, in Riddel Hall, Queen’s University Belfast.  Places are free of charge and lunch will be provided.  To register your interest, contact Michele by Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or Tel: 02890 892606.

{jcomments off}Cancer Focus NI launched a three month campaign in June 2014 in partnership with the Daily Mirror and with the support of 14 local charities.  The campaign calls for equality of access to 38 cancer drugs that are available to patients in England, Scotland and, shortly, Wales, but not readily available to patients in Northern Ireland.  The campaign initially aimed to secure 10,000 pledges of support - to be presented to Health Minister, Edwin Poots, this autumn.  However, after reaching that number in only 11 days, they have doubled the number of pledges, and are aiming for a massive 20,000.  Anyone who would like to pledge their support should visit: www.equalaccessni.org

{jcomments off}The Western Health and Social Care Trust Health Improvement Department has just released their training brochure for the period September 2014 - March 2015.  To see what’s being offered, visit: www.mhfi.org/WHSCTtraining14-15.pdf

{jcomments off}The Green Ribbon campaign during May 2014 saw over 500 events and projects take place across the country, 300,000 Green Ribbons distributed free of charge at Irish rail stations and Citizens' Information locations nationwide, and the collaboration of 90 partner organisations, 100s of volunteers and over 50 ambassadors.  This led to a total of 1.6 million conversations about mental health in Ireland.  For a copy of the impact report, see: www.seechange.ie/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/GR-impact-report-Final1.pdf

{jcomments off}In a personal view (www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g4834) published in the BMJ today (Wednesday 30th July 2014), Dr Gillian Prue, from the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Queen’s University Belfast, and a member of the Men's Health Forum in Ireland, says that boys should be vaccinated against the HPV virus as well as girls.  Gillian highlights how the human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is common in men, and can lead to genital warts and the development of some head and neck, anal or penile cancers.  She says that the incidence of this has increased in the past two decades; with HPV causing 5% of all human cancers.  Since September 2008, a free vaccination has been available for 12-13 year old girls in the UK, with a catch up programme for girls up to age 18.  However, Australia, the USA, Austria and parts of Canada have introduced a vaccination for both boys and girls.  This article makes a strong case for including boys in the vaccination programme in the UK and elsewhere.  The authors of a linked editorial in the BMJ also ask 'What about the boys?'  Professor Stanley, Dr O’Mahony and Dr Barton say that they share the Royal College of Surgeons’ disappointment about the lack of response to concerns about the 'inequity of vaccinating only girls against HPV'.

{jcomments off}The National Centre for Men's Health (within the Institute of Technology Carlow) is, currently, designing a best practice resource for service providers either working with men or looking to engage men in future initiatives.  In order to tailor this material to service providers' unique experiences and needs, they have designed a short online survey, and are asking for your help to promote and complete it.  The survey only has nine questions, should take about five minutes to complete, and aims to identify topics and formats for a new resource.  The survey can be found at: www.supersimplesurvey.com/Survey/8216/Mens_Health_Resource_Service_Provider_Survey__/  If you have any questions about this research, contact Maya Lefkowich, Research Assistant, at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.