Building on the success
of last year's Heed the Sneeze colds and
flu campaign, the Consumer Health Information
Centre will be using its 1998 campaign to
offer the public guidance on how to manage
stress to positive effect.
The Consumer Health Information
Centre was set up in 1997 by the Proprietary
Association of Great Britain (PAGB) as a consumer
advice service offering independent professional
advice to help improve public understanding
of common ailments. The Centre's expert panel
of doctors, nurses, consumers and pharmacists
identified stress management as a key step
to improving individuals' health and lessening
the burden on healthcare professionals in the
nineties.
Often underestimated as a cause
of illness and fatigue, stress and anxiety
now represent one of the top ten conditions
suffered by the UK population, costing industry
over £5 billion per year in absenteeism and
staff turnover. The focus of the campaign will
be on managing the everyday minor symptoms
of stress, particularly stress caused by lifestyle
rather than by those factors outside a person's
control. The nationwide information campaign
will call on members of the public to recognise
the early signs of stress and adapt their lifestyles
to manage it to their own advantage. Consumers
will be given guidance on how to recognise
their early symptoms, know what medicines to
take for relief and offered practical tips
on adapting lifestyles accordingly.
Following on from last year's
successful colds and flu campaign, the nationwide
media information campaign will be supported
by:
- a user-friendly leaflet, offering helpful
tips on managing stress including self-treatment.
- a local call rate help line (0845 60 61
611) which will be available for members
of the public to contact trained pharmacists
for advice on medicines to help relieve the
minor symptoms of stress.
- the Consumer Health Information Centre's
interactive web site
"
This campaign builds on the success of the 1997
Heed the Sneeze campaign which distributed over
90,000 'Ebenezer Sneezer's Guide to Colds and
Flu' leaflets, attracted over 1,000 visitors
per week to the Consumer Health Information Centre
website and generated over 1,000 calls to the
Colds and Flu help line", says panel member Ros
Meek, Royal College of Nursing. "The Heed the
Sneeze campaign proved that consumers want to
be better informed about their own health and
are now starting to ask how best to help themselves
when they get ill. We aim to bridge the gap between
consumers' ideals and their actions by offering
information that is both accessible and easy
to understand on the types of medicines available
from the pharmacy, and reassurance as to when
they should manage their own illness and when
to seek further advice.
Notes for editors
The Proprietary Association of Great Britain
is the national trade group which represents
manufacturers of branded over-the-counter (OTC)
medicines and food supplements. It was founded
in 1919 to protect the public from misleading
medicines' advertising through a system of industry
self-regulation. Today, the PAGB's role has expanded
beyond advertising control and its mission now
is to promote responsible consumer health care.
For further information please contact:
Karen Kelshaw
Consumer Health Information Centre
tel: 020 7421 9314
fax: 020 7421 9317
email: karen.kelshaw@pagb.co.uk
Pam Prentice
Doctor Patient Partnership
tel: 020 7383 6144
out of office hours: 0780 3399826
email: pprentice@bma.org.uk
Marianne Smith
Doctor Patient Partnership
tel 020 7383 6828
fax: 020 7383 6966
email: msmith@bma.org.uk
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