Keep Well This Winter, part of the Welsh Assembly Government response to Health Challenge Wales, starts this week. The campaign aims to to improve the health and well-being of the people of Wales and has three main themes: Keep Well; Keep Warm; Keep Safe.
It reminds people to take simple steps to improve their health and well being, such as having the seasonal flu vaccination, eating healthily, and ensuring their homes are warm and safe.
Flu vaccination is one of the simplest and most effective ways of protecting the health of older people. Not only does it protect against the effects of flu, which can be nasty and life threatening, but flu can also lead to other diseases such as bronchitis. Everyone aged 65 and over should contact their local GP surgery to arrange their flu jab. However, it must be made clear that the seasonal flu vaccination will not protect people against a flu pandemic. A vaccine to protect people from a pandemic can only be produced when the exact virus strain is known.
Rapidly rising fuel prices mean that alleviating fuel poverty is a priority in this year’s campaign. Keep Well This Winter encourages all older people to take advantage of grant schemes such as the Home Energy Efficiency Scheme (HEES), which is benefiting from an extra £5 million funding this year aimed specifically at helping older people. The campaign will also encourage older people to ensure that they take advantage of all benefits that they are entitled to so as to help with fuel bills.
The campaign is delivered through local partnerships. In Anglesey, where this year's campaign is being launched, the local partnership (which also includes the County Council and the Local Health Board) has been very successful and innovative in delivering the KWTW messages over the past six years that the campaign has been running.
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