Scoping Study of Available HIV Data, Services and Support in the Four Fast Track Cities of Ireland
In 2019, Dublin, Cork, Galway and Limerick, signed up to the HIV Fast-Track Cities Initiative, committing to scale up local HIV responses to help end the HIV epidemic by 2030. Steering Groups have been established for each of the cities. In 2022, the HSE Sexual Health and Crisis Pregnancy Programme (SHCPP) conducted a scoping study of available HIV data, services and support in the four Fast-Track Cities of Ireland, with the aim of providing a baseline description of existing HIV prevention and support services, to document the current challenges and gaps, and make recommendations to inform the development of Fast-Track City implementation plans. HSE Health and Wellbeing Leads, and Healthy City and County representatives were invited to participate in the study.
The report was published this week, and brings together findings from 193 participants across public health, adult public HIV clinical services, NGOs and community organisations, people living with HIV, member organisations and networks for people living with HIV, and city-level public structures. The report sets out recommendations for the Fast-Track City Steering Groups and HIV stakeholders. Each of the city steering groups will now begin working on developing implementation plans and will be leading on community engagement over the coming months. The SHCPP would like to thank the H&W and Healthy City and County participants for taking the time to complete the survey. Please feel free to share the report among your organisations and colleagues.
The report is available to read here.
1st September kicks-off Heart Month
The Her Heart Matters campaign is the focus of the annual Heart Month campaign from Irish Heart Foundation. This year as well as radio, digital media and outdoor advertising, the campaign will call on organisations for women or working with women, to make some time to talk about heart health. The campaign will conclude with a public webinar on 1st October. This year the campaign is supported by funding from HSE and Department of Health – Women’s Health Fund.
If you are interested in getting involved, more information is available at www.irishheart.ie.
HSE National Office for Suicide Prevention 2023 Annual Report
The 2023 Annual Report for the HSE National Office for Suicide Prevention report has been published in recent weeks and is available here.
The report outlines key achievements of the NOSP office, and many others, during 2023. Over 13,000 people availed of suicide prevention training from NOSP and the network of training partners last year, while NOSP also supported the considerable work of 22 HSE Resource Officers for Suicide Prevention (ROSPs) who coordinate the implementation of 10 regional Connecting for Life Suicide Prevention action plans across the country.
Over 50% of NOSP expenditure was to 21 national NGOs that work tirelessly on supports and services, promotional activities and initiatives aligned with our suicide prevention efforts. Investment in the HSE NOSP and support for our national suicide prevention strategy have significantly increased over the past decade, growing from €5 million in 2012 to €14 million last year.