1st & 2nd April 2008 - Arena & Convention Centre, Liverpool (ACC)

News and Updates!

Thank you to all the Forum's supporters and attendees

The committee are delighted that this year's Forum proved to be another successful conference. We have received a lot of positive feedback from attendees and all feedback provided will be taken on board to help to further improve the Forum in future years.

Speaker presentations available to delegates online!

All speaker presentations that were collected at the Forum this year are available online on the UKPHA website. All delegates have been emailed the link to The presentations. If you attended the Forum and you do not have this link, please contact the Conference Office on conference@ukpha.org.uk.

CPD Points application

The Faculty of Public Health has changed the way that delegates can claim CPD points for their attendance at the Forum. Delegates now need to write a reflective note explaining their learning experience and send directly to FPH. For more information click here.

Poster Competition Results

We are delighted to announce the results of this year's Poster Competition, which was kindly sponsored by Earthscan. To view the results of the competition, please click here.

Abstract Reviewers 2008

The UKPHA Committee would like to thank all the abstract reviewers from the 2008 Forum. To see a list of this year's reviewers, please click here.

The UKPHA Michael Varnam Award
Health, Humanity and Environment

Dr Michael Varnam

This award has been developed by the UKPHA due to the outstanding contribution to Health, Humanity and Environment made by a Trustee and exceptionally committed member of UKPHA - Dr Michael Varnam, who died in 2006.

The UKPHA were delighted by the number of nominations received for the Award in its first year. This year, it was awarded to The ABLE Project. The Award recognises an approach to health and the environment which is rooted in humanitarian principles.

Its aim is to encourage and acknowledge projects and services to be developed that improve the environment for the well-being of future generations.

To find out more about this prestigious award, please go to the UKPHA website.

17th UKPHA Annual Public Health Forum

The Forum in 2009 will be held in Brighton on 24th - 26th March. More information will be posted on this website in due course.

Introduction

The Annual Public Health Forum is the largest multi-disciplinary public health conference in the UK, attracting up to 1,000 delegates from all parts of the UK, the Republic of Ireland and overseas.

The Forum offers a unique opportunity to learn from leading edge innovations in all partsof the UK, the Republic of Ireland and abroad, as well as showcase initiatives from Liverpool. These will all relate to the key conference themes:

Health Inequalities
– the health and wealth gaps are widening; what can we do?

• Evidence for successfully tackling health gaps
• Working with disadvantaged groups
• Community workforces - will they deliver?
• Health Equity Audits

Sustainable development
– the social, economic and environmental must-dos

• Creating and maintaining healthy neighbourhoods
• Partnerships - breaking down barriers
• New ways of working to create well-being

Anti-health forces
– fighting for health

• Nanny state vs public good –legislation or persuasion
• The spectrum of choice – who chooses; who loses?
• Social marketing – using commercial tricks
• Balancing rights – values and ethics

And these locally decided issues:

• Public health economics - answering Wanless
• Local economics and governmental interventions
• Long-term conditions - maximising health and minimising health
• Health Protection - the 21st century challenge
• Environmental determinants - the impacts of the world around us
• Keeping us safe - outbreaks, epidemics and terrorism

Liverpool and Public Health

Liverpool. A city of so much diversity and history which can justly claim to be the cradle of public health as we know it today Inequalities in Health were tackled in Liverpool as long ago as 1832 initially through ‘sanitary reform during the cholera epidemic one Kitty Wilkinson 1786-1860 invited the poorest people into her kitchen to wash. Ten years later she was superintendent of the first ever council run ‘Public Baths and Wash-houses. Dr William Henry Duncan set up the first Public Health Partnership working with Thomas Fresh (Inspector of Nuisances; the fore-runner of today’s environmental health officer) and Robert Newlands (Borough Engineer). Together they tackled the causes as well as the solutions for better health. The Liverpool Sanitary Act, 1846 actually preceded the national Sanitary Act of 1847 and influenced the drafting of the Public Health Act of 1848. Dr Duncan became the first Medical Officer of Health in 1847 and in 1868 the first council houses in Britain, St Martin’s Cottages, were built in Liverpool. Eleanor Rathbone secretary of the Women's Industrial Council in Liverpool was very involved in the organization's campaign against low pay and bad working conditions. In 1909 she became the first woman to be elected to Liverpool City Council and over the next few years argued for improved housing in the city. Eleanor became prominent in the women’s suffrage movement and a was leading advocate for family allowance.