We’ve updated our COVID-19 hub to include information on vaccinations, revised Government guidance and a new list of COVID-19 resources for South Asian communities.  

The Gambling Health Alliance has kicked off the year with two consultation responses from the Advertising Standards Authority and Committees of Advertising Practice. The first in on introducing tighter restrictions for gambling adverts that appeal to under-18s and the other is a response to advertising in-game purchases. Our response to the in-game purchases (Loot Boxes) consultation was informed by our research for our #LidOnLoots campaign, which continues while we await the response to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s (DCMS) consultation on loot boxes.

Earlier this month, we published a report in collaboration with Alzheimer’s Research UK about a new way for policymakers to discuss and engage with dementia. The report, ‘Brain Health: a new way to think about dementia risk reduction’ makes recommendations for how funding should be allocated to prevent dementia, what kind of messaging should be used in public-facing campaigns and how brain health can be weaved into public health services.

We have also been working in collaboration with Save Face, the national register for non-surgical practitioners, to develop new RSPH-regulated qualifications in non-surgical cosmetic procedures. Research found that last year, four in five people who complained about a cosmetic treatment were blocked or ignored by their practitioner. This shows there is a clear need to support healthcare professionals who administer these treatments and provide much-needed reassurance to the public. We are pleased to be able to offer these qualifications to help crack-down on the issues that Save Face regularly come across.

This month, we are putting the finishing touches to two policy reports which will be published in the coming weeks. The first report looks into the impact of working from home on health and wellbeing and the second is an investigation into the uptake of the flu vaccine in London.

We are also beginning a series of roundtables to inform our response to the consultation on the development of a Health Index. This is intended to measure factors that influence health, health outcomes, and provide an indication of wellbeing which could be considered alongside other progress indicators such as GDP.