The estimated one billion people living with disabilities worldwide face many
barriers to inclusion in many key aspects of society. As a result, people with disabilities do not enjoy access to society on an equal basis with others, which includes areas of transportation, employment, and education. The aim of the Day is to create a more inclusive and equitable world for persons with disabilities.

 By promoting empowerment, real opportunities are created. Empowerment involves investing in people - in jobs, health, nutrition, education, and social protection. The theme for 2016's Day is: Achieving 17 Goals for the Future We Want, which provides a frame for considering how people with disability are excluded from society by promoting the removal of all types of barriers; including those relating to the physical environment, information and communications technology (ICT), or attitudinal barriers.

“Yes I can, if ……..” Will Pike

Road Safety Week is the UK's biggest road safety event, coordinated annually by Brake,  involving thousands of schools, organisations and communities each year.

Brake is a road safety charity that works to prevent road death and injury, make streets and communities safer, and supports the victims of road crashes. Brake founded Road Safety Week in 1997 as an annual event to raise awareness about road safety and promote steps that everyone can take to stop these needless deaths and injuries year-round.

Road Safety Week aims to inspire communities to take action on road safety and promote life-saving messages during the Week and beyond. It also provides a focal point for professionals working in road safety to boost awareness and engagement in their work.

Infection control is everybody’s business so as we’re half way through World Antibiotic Awareness Week, we thought we’d share the statistics to prove why this is so.  In the recent final report and recommendations of Review on Antimicrobial Resistance, chaired by Jim O’Neill (May 2016) detailed scenario analyses provided the basis for their conclusion.  These included:

• The 700,000 deaths  globally in 2016 from Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) could increase to 10 million per year by 2050 – more people than currently die from cancer and a staggering death toll of one person every 3 seconds.

• In the two years it took from the Report commencing start to its publication over 1 million people have died from AMR and new forms of resistance have emerged that were not known about in 2014.

Today is World Diabetes Day. It's a global campaign led by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) with activity taking place around the world to raise awareness of how serious the disease is.  This means knowing, for example that in the UK diabetes:

- kills 65 people every single day.

- causes blindness and kidney disease.

- that every week it causes:
1400 cases of heart failure
540 strokes
140 lower limb amputations

19,240. Study that figure for a moment. That’s the number of soldiers killed on the opening day of the Battle of the Somme. That is not the final death toll. This is just a single day. The first day.

Since 1815 the balance of power in Europe had been maintained by a series of treaties. In 1888 Wilhelm II was crowned ‘German Emperor and King of Prussia’ and moved from a policy of maintaining the status quo to a more aggressive position.  These actions greatly concerned Germany’s neighbours, who quickly forged new treaties and alliances in the event of war. 

Did you know that people living with dementia have, on average 4.6 other long-term serious health conditions, such as stroke, diabetes and sight problems?

Researchers in the University of Hertfordshire’s have been looking at ways to improve the organisation and delivery of health care services for people with dementia who also have other medical conditions.

The findings - from the CoDem study - suggest that people living with dementia may have poorer access to health services than those without dementia. The report’s authors have made a number of recommendations for ways in which the organisation and delivery of health care services for people living with dementia can be improved.

Findings from the study have informed a recent All Party Parliamentary Group on Dementia and Comorbidity - and led to further research around the management of diabetes in people with dementia.

Just in case you haven’t seen Will’s amazing video – Stop Segregating Disabled People – we wanted to share a link to it so that you can see what a remarkable person he is.   He was paralysed from the waist down during the terror attacks in Mumbai on a one-night stopover when on holiday in 2008, and has started a petition on change.org because too many shops and restaurants are effectively off limits to wheelchair users.

The history of the world is intertwined with the impact that infectious diseases
have had on populations. Evidence of smallpox has been found in 3000-year-old Egyptian mummies and Egyptian papyrus paintings depict infectious diseases such as poliomyelitis. Hippocrates wrote about the spread of disease by means of airs, water, and places, and made an association between climate, diet, and living conditions. And the Black Death of the 14^th century had been the deadliest disease in history – until only recently being overtaken by AIDS.

In 1962 control and prevention measures, including the use of antibiotics and the development of vaccines, had decreased the incidence of many infectious diseases.  It therefore seemed entirely logical for the Nobel prize winner Sir Macfarlane Burnet to state ‘By the end of the Second World War it was possible to say that almost all of the major practical problems of dealing with infectious disease had been solved.’

We’re florid – are you?  If you’re not, get yourself down to the Florid website and check it out. It’s amazing! Florid is an informative and accessible website – developed by Mental Health service users and carers, for Mental Health service users and carers to share views and information.

What is Breast Cancer Awareness Month?

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a worldwide annual campaign involving thousands of organisations, to highlight the importance of breast awareness, education and research.

During Breast Cancer Awareness Month, its aim is to get as many people as possible involved in raising awareness and funds for breast cancer research. This is done through campaigning, collecting, an array of various events across the UK and of course wearing pink!