Health & Wellbeing

Young people in the West Midlands are putting themselves at risk of life-threatening meningitis, as figures show uptake of the MenACWY vaccine has been worryingly low in parts of the region – with Birmingham and the Black Country showing the worst vaccination rates.

Around 1 in 5 students in Birmingham (21.3%), Walsall (18.6%) and Sandwell (17.1%) missed their routine vaccine in secondary school, leaving local teenagers unprotected before arriving at university this academic year.

The rollout of the free flu vaccination for children is continuing in Wolverhampton's schools – with thousands of pupils now fully-fledged Flu Fighters!

Nurses from Vaccination UK are visiting more city schools this week, including Woodfield Primary in Penn where they administered hundreds of vaccinations via a painless nasal spray.

Many of Native Americans‘ innovations in health and medicine have been around for thousands of years, predating — and contributing to — Western medicine.

Native Americans chewed willow bark (shown above) to soothe aches and pains. The active ingredient in the bark is salicin, a chemical that in 1897 formed the basis of the discovery of aspirin, the most commonly used drug in the world.

Public urged not to touch sick or dead wild birds – as avian influenza confirmed by Defra in Wolverhampton

The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) has now confirmed there is avian influenza A(H5N1) in wild bird populations in Wolverhampton.

Uber Eats has launched a mindfulness audio guide, ‘Mindful Mouthful’, to help people take a moment to reset and reflect before they sit down to eat - as its research finds a staggering 1 in 2 (54%) Brits have reported feeling very stressed or burnt out in the past month. 

Wolverhampton has again been recognised as working towards being a dementia friendly city – demonstrating that organisations are working together to make people living with the condition feel better understood, respected and supported.

The Alzheimer's Society has granted Wolverhampton Dementia Friendly Community Status for the fifth year running after recognising the work taking place to improve services for people living with dementia, and their families and carers.

Analysis of Google search data reveals that Coventry has the ninth greatest demand for doctors and dentists out of the 25 largest UK cities. The analysis, by affordable cosmetic dentistry provider Longevita, measured how many monthly Google searches for dentists and doctors are made per 100,000 people in the largest 25 UK cities to determine in which cities they are most in demand.

The National Association for Business Resources has selected Kids Kicking Cancer, a global non-profit dedicated to reducing pain and stress in children with cancer and chronic illnesses, as a recipient of Michigan’s Best and Brightest in Wellness Award. This unique program highlights organizations that promote a culture of wellness; and those that plan, implement, and evaluate efforts in employee and client wellness to make their business and the community a healthier place to live and work.

A new report has suggested that access to healthier nicotine alternatives could help reduce the number of deaths caused by smoking in Europe by over 210,000 each year.

The Lakeville Report, Fighting Smoking with Alternative Nicotine Products, was commissioned by Haypp Group to study various explanations for the differences in public health linked to smoking, using the Swedish model as an example.

The City of Wolverhampton Council celebrated the achievements of its young people leaving, or about to leave, care through a series of events held to mark Care Leavers Week. Young people and their Young Person’s Advisors took part in a dozen activities last week, including a wellbeing and beauty evening where they were able to enjoy facial treatments, henna mehndi and Lush gift sets provided by their Grand Mentors.

Two representatives of Midlands Air Ambulance Charity’s aircrew have been shortlisted for national awards that celebrate the specialist lifesaving skills, experience, contributions, and commitment of those that work tirelessly within the air ambulance community.

The end-of-life charity, Marie Curie, is calling on local people in Solihull, Marston Green and Balsall Common to join one of its local fundraising groups.

The hospice on Marsh Lane will be holding an event on Thursday 17th November from 6.30 – 8.00pm so people can find out more about the work of groups in the area and other ways to support the charity.

Lucy Air Ambulance for Children (Lucy AAC) is delighted to announce that they are the first Charity partner of the UK’s fastest growing delicious pizza chain, Caprinos Pizza Ltd, with a new store opening in West Bromwich at 2 Jowetts Lane B71 2RA on Monday 7th November.

They will be offering special offers and FREE pizzas to walk-in customers between 5 and 6pm. Commenting on why this small, national charity was chosen, Caprinos marketing manager Zamman Ahmed said: “To see how this charity is making such an impact, what they do and how they change lives - the decision was easy.”

Health City Cayman Islands, the Caribbean’s leading tertiary health care facility, has chalked up another first by treating two patients with peripheral vascular arterial disease (PVAD), a circulatory condition in which narrowed or occluded blood vessels reduce blood flow to the limbs.

Dr. Neeraj G. Shetty, Health City’s Consultant Vascular and Interventional Radiologist, reported that his team utilized a minimally invasive, endovascular, non-stenting technique to successfully treat two cases last month, the first time in the English-speaking Caribbean that this method was used for treating the health complication.

Birmingham-based charity Help Harry Help Others has been revealed as the very deserving winner of £10,000 worth of services from printing and branding firm, Embello. Hundreds of charities applied to the Tamworth company’s Brum:SOS project and five finalists were invited to the Embello HQ to pitch for the prize. 

West Midlands charity, the Kaleidoscope Plus Group are encouraging people to take part in their ultimate World Cup challenge this winter. The West Bromwich-based charity helps thousands of people across the UK each year and offers a range of services for people in need, struggling with their emotional health and wellbeing. Wembley to Qatar covers the staggering 4,186 miles from Wembley stadium to the Lusail Stadium, Qatar where the FIFA World Cup 2022 final will be held.