PublicHealthMatters 
The skyline of Middlesbrough town centre, with industrial cooling towers in the background Health inequalities are avoidable differences in health across our populations. You can suffer health inequalities because of where you were born or live, your ethnicity, or even because of your job. Sadly, they are persistent within our communities and their causes are … Read more
Posters from the Why We Get Vaccinated community engagement campaign in Bengali Saijal Ladd, Prescribing Advisor – Medicines Planning and Operations, NHS North Central London Integrated Care Board (ICB), shares her experience of contracting measles at 42, and the serious impact this had on her health. We’re sharing her story as part of London’s ‘Why … Read more
Andi Biotic reminds us to Keep Antibiotics Working Imagine a world where common infections became life-threatening, because our medicines no longer worked. It might sound like the plot for a dystopian film, but this scenario is real and it’s happening now. Antimicrobial resistance, known as AMR, is stopping antibiotics from being as effective as they … Read more
Travel offers exciting adventures, but it’s important to protect your health wherever you go. While casual sexual encounters during holidays are common, protecting yourself from sexually transmitted infections (STIs) is more crucial than ever – especially with rising trends in antibiotic resistance. Why protection matters when travelling When enjoying holidays overseas, practising safer sex is … Read more
As we move into spring, protection from any earlier COVID-19 vaccination you may have had will be starting to wane. COVID-19 can still be very dangerous and even life threatening, particularly for older people and those with a weakened immune system. Thankfully, for those who are more likely to become seriously ill from COVID-19, the … Read more
Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) viral particles, located on the surface of a Vero E6 cell The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) was set up to protect health from infectious diseases and environmental hazards. We prepare for future threats to prevent health and socioeconomic impacts and although there are hundreds of pathogens that can … Read more
UKHSA’s most recent data on tuberculosis (TB) revealed a rise in reported numbers in England by 13% in 2024 (5,480) compared to 2023 (4,850). This signals a rebound to above the pre-COVID-19 numbers, despite significant progress towards a decline in TB over the last few decades. In this blog post, we outline the trends and … Read more
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is harnessing the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to address health security challenges. Here are 3 examples of projects that demonstrate how we’re using cutting-edge AI technology to protect and improve public health. Using AI to understand patient experiences Understanding patients’ lived experiences is crucial for improving healthcare services. … Read more
Solar flare Space weather occurs when explosive events near the Sun’s surface project strong radiation fields towards the Earth. These events typically peak during solar maximum – a cycle that occurs approximately every 11 years – but serious events can also happen during solar minimum. Currently, we are experiencing a maximum, with solar activity at … Read more
Nanoplastics are plastic particles smaller than 1,000 nanometers in diameter, or 100 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair, and they are polluting our environment and our food, to the extent that they are now being found in human blood, lungs, placenta, and even breast milk. The study of microplastics is still a relatively … Read more