A week of events to mark the valuable contribution of health visitors and 120 years of the Community Practitioners and Health Visitors Association (CPHVA) is runningfrom 26 September to 30 September.
The week began with a conference, in partnership with the Welsh government where speakers will include Rebecca Evans, minister for social services and public health, marking the launch of the Health Child Wales Programme.
Dave Munday, Unite lead professional officer said: 'Health visitor week is about celebrating all the amazing work that health visitors do supporting children and their families, but there is also a very serious side to the week.
'With the future of health visiting under threat in England, by the deep cuts to public health budgets and the shift to cash-strapped local authority control, now more than ever we need to speak up to protect the profession.'
He highlighted that cuts to local authority funding could 'jeapordise' the work of the Health Visitor Implementation Plan which boosted the workforce by 4000.
Events are also taking place in Glasgow on 27 September and in Belfast on 29 September. Health visitors in England can tune into a live webinar on Wednesday 28 September where topics for discussion will include oral health and sudden infant death syndrome (cot death). Social media activity can also be tracked using the hastag #HVWeek.