The survey also suggests that young people are the most likely to want to learn about dementia. Oscar nominated actress Carey Mulligan, whose grandmother has Alzheimer’s, has become an ambassador for the Alzheimer’s Society.

The Bournemouth University Dementia Institute (BUDI) was launched last week, it  works towards raising awareness and increasing the quality of care and support of people with Demetia.

Professor Anthea Innes, Director BUDI said “Raising awareness of dementia is critical, not only can it help us respond more positively to those with dementia now to help offer a supportive environment, but it may help in the long run to delay the onset of dementia if people take steps to address factors known to influence the risk of dementia. Not only are younger people (18-25 as identified in the yougov poll) important to target but also children in schools who may be seeing dementia in their families. There is a lovely little leaflet aimed at children and young people ‘The Milk’s in the Oven’ from the Mental Health Foundation that provides a simple overview of what it might be like to have dementia and how to cope if someone they know has dementia.”

 http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/dementia-institute/

http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/content/assets/PDF/publications/Download_MilksInTheOven.pdf?view=Standard

Edwin delivering his presentation in Nepal

Professor Edwin Van Teijlingen has been to Nepal in January to work with the Nepalese Government in promoting good health across the country.

On 11 January he spoke at a conference that he helped facilitate which highlighted the benefits of community-based intervention for health. The conference was shown the results of two projects carried out by Green Tara UK and Green Tara Nepal which proved the success of intervention so the hope is that such schemes can be rolled out nationally.

Professor van Teijlingen said: “Health Promotion is not the same as Health Education or Public Health.  Health Promotion is wider and it aims to help individuals to improve their own health.”

Professor van Teijlingen also attended a five day workshop organised by the Partnership on Improving Access to Research Literature for Higher Education Institutions in Nepal (PARI). Funded by the British Council and DFID, the partnership includes Tribhuvan University, Nepal, the NGO in Kathmandu and two other UK universities – The University of Sheffield and the University of Aberdeen. PARI aims to build research capacity and help higher education institutions in Nepal to access and assess research-based information in health disciplines such as nursing, medicine, pharmacy, and public health.

Professor van Teijlingen  said: “PARI has approached the gap in health research in Nepal in separate stages and we are now training a group of Nepalese academics to enable them to conduct their own systematic reviews of the literature.”

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=418561&c=1

The Pro Vice Chancellor John Vinney, Sue Ashmore from Unicef and staff received the award today

Bournemouth University received the internationally-recognised Baby Friendly Initiative Award today for the high quality of education in breastfeeding provided to midwifery students.

 The Award was presented by Sue Ashmore, Programme Director of the UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative, presented the award to the staff and students today.

The Baby Friendly Initiative, set up by UNICEF and the World Health Organisation, is a global programme which ensues that high levels of training in breastfeeding are incorporated in midwifery and health visitor training courses.

The University Award recognises that a university has implemented best practice in breastfeeding training, and has passed a thorough external assessment by UNICEF staff.

Sue said BU was particularly deserving of the award,

“The standard of the students skills, the practical skills and their communication skills; they could talk to mothers about how to breastfeed their babies and express their milk which was considered an exception, fantastic as these are people at the beginning of their career which aren’t even qualified yet.”

In September, second year midwifery students from BU underwent a rigorous assessment by UNICEF BFI of their breastfeeding knowledge and skills, achieving  an outstanding result in all elements of the assessment. The BFI’s assessors described the students as ‘motivated, confident, knowledgeable and articulate’.

In its report, UNICEF BFI said “The students interviewed demonstrated an exceptional level of knowledge and skill. Their enthusiasm and motivation was also noted and it was clear from conversations during the interviews that the students were putting their knowledge and skills into practice on a regular basis.”

In accepting the award, Professor Paul Lewis, Associate Dean of Midwifery, Rehabilitation and Health Sciences, praised the students and his midwifery teaching team at BU for their exceptional performance.

Professor Lewis said,

“Breastfeeding provides significant health benefits to mothers, babies and our wider society. Breastfeeding protects babies against a wide range of serious illnesses including gastroenteritis and respiratory infections in infancy as well as allergies and diabetes in childhood. We also know that breastfeeding reduces the mother’s risk of some cancers – although mums might be more interested in hearing that it’s easier, cheaper and simply less hassle than bottle feeding.”

Sue Ashmore added that,

“Surveys show us that most mothers want to breastfeed but don’t always get the support they need. Becoming Baby Friendly Accredited means that Bournemouth University is addressing this problem and aiming to ensure more mothers can successfully breastfeed their babies in future.”

Philippa Hudson, senior lecturer in food safety at Bournemouth University, admits that she would only remove a centimetre or so beyond the surface mould to continue eating a product. Stating that is just our harmless old friend Penicillium.

“But it’s important to say that not all of the Penicillium moulds are safe,” she adds. “Some of them do produce toxins and you can’t necessarily tell which are the bad ones by looking at them. It’s not as if all green moulds are good, all white moulds are good and all brown ones are to be avoided.”

How dangerous can moulds be? “Seriously dangerous,” she says. “The genus Aspergillus, which grows on peanuts and peanut products, produces a group of toxins called aflatoxins. They can cause liver cancer – and cooking won’t destroy them.”

If you want to read the full article on the dangers of mould, visit the Guardian website here.

The presentation will provide information on error and adverse incidents, supporting those involved in such cases and the implications they have on primary care nursing.

The event is designed to discuss best practice and current health issues including: Asthma, nutrition, drug and alcohol misuse, mental health and suicide, sexual health, women’s health and diabetes.

Held at the Bournemouth International Centre (BIC) on November 1, the event is aimed at primary care nurses who include practice nurses, health visitors, community nurses, school nurses, healthcare assistants, midwives, PCT nursing staff managers and district nurses.

Exhibitors, charities, colleges and pharmaceutical companies will also be attending the event to show their products and samples to attendees. Key note speeches will be given by leading names in primary healthcare.

For further information please see: http://www.nursinginpractice.com/bournemouth

A PHD student at Bournemouth University has won a travel bursary from Santander for £4995.

The money will be used for travel and living expenses, spending 5 weeks this winter and 5 weeks in winter 2012 at the University of Barcelona and the Institute for Clinical Effectiveness and Health Policy.

Sheetal Sharma is evaluating health promotion in Nepal for her PHD study, she  will use the bursary to travel and work with the University of Buenos Aires, Institute for Clinical Effectiveness and Health Policy (Buenos Aires) Barcelona University and Bournemouth University (BU). Both universities of Buenos Aires and Barcelona belong to the Santander overseas network, as it calls universities “the backbone of transformation”

Santander Universities Global Division has more than 960 universities from America, Asia and Europe abd gives away 600 million euros to finance university projects and partnership agreements with universities each year, as well as creating Universia which is the biggest university network in the world.

Sheetal’s research looks to better understand the constraints of care-seeking behaviour in maternal health and will determine the ways to improve wellbeing through decrease in maternal, neonatal and infant mortality rates and diseases relating to reproductive and sexual health practices and assist in attaining the Millennium Development Goal 5.

Only 5 Santander bursaries of up to £5000 are awarded per year which aims to reward the most academically gifted students from countries that are supported by the Santander Universidades scheme.

student Andrew Kalule

The government department for international development each year gives Bournemouth University a scholarship to students studying in the school of Health and Social Care, usually students coming from abroad, especially Africa.

This year Andrew Owen Kalule joins BU from Makerere University in Uganda after winning the scholarship to study MSc Public Health in the school of Health and Social Care at BU’s Landsdowne campus.

Andrew said of his choice to study Public Health at BU,

“The never ending Public Health issues in Uganda and Africa as a continent inspired me to take up this particular course as well as the fact that Public Health is global more so that technology has made our world a small place to live in. Diseases so many miles away can still impact on us. There is no better way to change my community than Public Health. Public Health will offer me this opportunity to make change in this world and make lives of so many people better.”

Andrew praised the support of the academic staff, especially of Dr Liz Norton, and the relaxing and organised environment a great one to study in, and all the extra currciculur facilities which has made BU such an enjoyable place to study.

“I loved going to the beach, the Christian Union Fellow ships at the Hub, the London Excursion plus the Jurassic coast tour during the ISOP week were very interesting.”

Andrew is studying for his Masters in Public Health, and will be graduating in 2012.