Health & Wellbeing

This month, SMIRA, the Selective Mutism Information and Research Association, is launching the ‘Make a Noise’ campaign to help children find their voices. Selective mutism (‘SM’) is an anxiety-based mental health disorder, usually commencing in early childhood, preventing an individual’s ability to speak out in a certain situations. SM is not a choice.

The daughter of a man who tragically died from ‘secondary drowning’ has teamed up with the Royal Life Saving Society UK (RLSS UK) and spoken out for the first time to raise awareness of the issue. Alan Gough, from Walsall, died at the wheel of his car in January this year, hours after apparently escaping unscathed when his canoe capsized in the Lake District.

Many people believe that the key to good skin is a daily cleanse, tone and moisturising ritual.  In the UK alone, women will spend more than £18,000 in a lifetime on beauty products for their skin. However, as a nation we also spend £50,000 on alcohol in the same period, which begs the question – how is all that alcohol affecting our skin and, even more importantly, our overall health?

American Airlines and its more than 100,000 employees have launched Be Pink, the employee-led breast cancer awareness initiative that takes place each October during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Raising awareness about breast cancer and helping raise money to finance breast cancer research through Susan G. Komen® is a critical mission for team members since breast cancer accounts for one in nearly one in three cancers diagnosed in the U.S.

Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care, Cllr Paulette Hamilton, reflects on reports that a rising number of university students are experiencing mental health issues. Every year at this time, we welcome thousands of new students to Birmingham. The newcomers to our city are predominantly young and for most of them this is the first time they've ever lived away from home. It's an exciting time, it's an emotional time and for many it's a stressful time.

People returning to Birmingham from the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia have been advised to be aware of the symptoms of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). Many Muslims from across the city are now returning from the pilgrimage to Mecca, and though health bosses have stressed the risk to most travellers is very low, a recent increase of MERS cases in Saudi Arabia means pilgrims and their families should be aware of the symptoms.

Cure Leukaemia's latest fundraising drive 'Just One More' is very much on track – thanks to the generosity of partners Warwickshire County Cricket Club and their £25,000 donation. Warwickshire CCC has supported the campaign by donating Just One More pound from every ticket sold at the opening day of the recent Investec Ashes Test Match at Edgbaston. 

SBRI Healthcare, an NHS England-funded initiative to develop innovative products and services that address unmet health needs, has today announced the launch of its latest clinically-led competition which aims to help develop solutions that improve patients’ lives and support NHS efficiency. SBRI Healthcare is offering companies up to £100,000 Phase 1 feasibility funding to develop products that reduce the current pressures put on urgent and emergency care services.

Barbara Windsor has sent in a letter of support of RNIB's Wear Dots...Raise Lots campaign that is running throughout October. "I was really shocked to find out that every 15 minutes in the UK someone starts to lose their sight. I know only too well how worrying it is to think you might not see your loved ones again after needing a cataract operation myself.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and Macmillan Cancer Support is urging the public to learn about the signs and symptoms of the UK’s most common type of cancer and signposting people affected by cancer to where they can find local support. The Macmillan mobile service is stopping off in the West Midlands on from Monday 5^th October to Thursday 8^th October. No appointment is necessary, and anyone is welcome.

A mobile stop smoking clinic and quit and get fit yoga and pilates classes are just some of the activities taking place over the next month. Haringey’s ‘Stoptober’ campaign officially kicked off today with specialist stop smoking advisors outside Wood Green Library offering support to residents to set a quit date and to take advantage of a range of free support throughout ‘Stoptober’.

Aston Villa and Birmingham City supporters were being urged to put their rivalry to one side and unite in support of Cure Leukaemia’s ‘Just One More’ campaign at the eagerly-awaited Second City derby. Villa’s official charity, Villa in the Community, kindly agreed to back the Birmingham-based blood cancer charity’s attempts to raise at least £40,000 – the amount required to fund  specialist research nurse for a year – during September, which is Blood Cancer Awareness Month.

Diabetes UK is urging parents and students to nominate their schools for a special award that celebrates schools that provide great care and support to children and young people with Type 1 diabetes. The charity’s Good Diabetes Care in School Award is open to all schools across the Midlands. Schools can nominate themselves, or be nominated by parents, students and healthcare professionals.

People who are looking to quit smoking are being encouraged to sign up to this year’s Stoptober campaign with friends, family or work colleagues. Evidence shows “social quitting” – where groups collectively try to give up smoking – can dramatically improve people’s chances of successfully stopping.

Weight loss champion Councillor Paul Sweet has set his sights on tackling next year's Wolverhampton Marathon – after defying even his own expectations by completing the half-marathon last weekend. Councillor Sweet, the City of Wolverhampton Council's Cabinet Member for Governance, made it his ambition to take part in the half-marathon after embarking on a weight loss challenge last September.

Diabetes UK is recommending that Jewish people with diabetes talk with their rabbi ahead of the three major festivals in the coming weeks. Rosh Hashanah, on September 14-15, and Simchat Torah at the end of Sukkot, on October 6, are both traditionally celebrated by feasting.