FIGHT FOR HEALTH

The Community Development Health Network (CDHN), in partnership with the Public Health Agency, will be marking the launch of a special edition of VIEW magazine on Wednesday 13th April 2016 at 11.00am in the John Paul Suite, Newry Conferencing and Banqueting Centre.

It follows a government survey which reveals that health is the top priority for people in Northern Ireland. When asked about the most important issues faced in day to day life, ‘health’ was the most commonly identified issue in the Northern Ireland Omnibus Survey. ‘Health service investment’ was identified as one of the issues people felt needed to be improved.

Joanne Morgan, director of the Community Development Health Network (CDHN) said local communities were involved in a ‘fight for health’. Ms Morgan is guest editor of the latest VIEW community magazine.

She said: “It’s time to flex our muscles and get serious about ending health inequality. Our communities and the people in them are the biggest assets we have in making that a reality.”

Ms Morgan added that the focus on health promotion to bring about behaviour change had its place “but we can’t continue to treat symptoms and send people back to the conditions that made them ill.”

“Picture this. Two baby boys are born on the same day in the same maternity hospital but from different parts of the same city. Their mothers imagine the life they have ahead of them. In a modern world full of opportunity, anything is possible… is it not? What if we told them the truth? That when they grow up to be men one of them will die eight years earlier than the other. He probably won’t have a job and if he does, it won’t pay very well, because he didn’t get to stay on at school and get qualifications”, Ms Morgan said.

Northern Ireland will soon be showing the rest of Europe the way forward in health care, according to a leading health expert Dr Alan Stout, a member of the Expert Panel set up to remodel health and social care who was speaking exclusively to VIEW magazine.

Lindsay Robinson, wife of east Belfast MP Gavin, tells VIEW editor Brian Pelan of her battle with postnatal depression and how she now wants to help other mums who may be struggling with the illness.

VIEW magazine also features a boxing club in Dundalk that is tackling health and fitness issues among the Traveller community in a practical way. VIEW magazine is available online on VIEWdigital http://viewdigital.org news site.  The latest edition was supported by the Public Health Agency.