Question reference: S5W-20486
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 10 December 2018
-
Current status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 20 December 2018
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-16471 by Aileen Campbell on 22 May 2018, what measures are being taken to direct people to the online leaflet on Lyme Disease found on the Health Protection Scotland website; whether it will provide further details on the work carried out by the Lyme Borreliosis Group, and whether this information can be found in the public domain, and what routes were discussed to raise awareness of Lyme Disease across Scotland at the symposium on Lyme disease on Benbecula.
Answer
The Scottish Government, together with the Lyme Borreliosis Group are actively engaged in raising awareness of the materials produced to educate people on Lyme disease. This includes a social media video campaign which ran throughout Summer 2018 encouraging young people to check for and remove ticks safely, an article on the Visit Scotland website and an outdoor health workshop held in Stirling in October 2018. All of which signpost to the ‘avoiding bugs and germs outdoors’ web pages on NHS Inform ( www.nhsinform.scot/bugs-and-germs ).
The Scottish Government and the Lyme Borreliosis group are currently working on promotional activity for 2019 which will include the distribution of branded tick removers which signpost to the ‘avoiding bugs and germs outdoors’ web pages on NHS Inform.
Routes to raise awareness of Lyme disease discussed at the symposium in Benbecula included social media, community pharmacies and production of educational materials.