NHS Evidence - ethnicity and health
The Specialist Library for Ethnicity and Health (SLEH) became 'NHS Evidence - ethnicity and health' on the 1st April 2009 as part of a move of all the NHS Specialist Libraries into NHS Evidence, provided by NICE, with a single access portal. For more information about NHS Evidence, please follow this link to the NICE website: http://www.nice.org.uk/nhsevidence/
Translated Patient Material
With the movement of content from NHS Direct to NHS Choices now underway, we have started to reintroduce their translated patient material to our collection, and to locate other useful material in various languages.
News - The latest developments in Evidence, Consultation or Resources
Higher infant mortality in ethnic minority groups
Caribbean and Pakistani babies are more than twice as likely to die by age one than white British or Bangladeshi babies a new briefing paper by the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit has found. Large inequalities exist in infant mortality rates between minority ethnic groups and the general population. The paper recommends that more research is needed to identify pathways that lead to this inequality.
Afiya Consultation - update
The Government is at present consulting through a green paper on its proposed reforms to social care. It is not yet clear how these will affect people from BME communities. The Afiya Trust has conducted a survey for people to express their opinions on this document and the importance of culturally appropriate services. All feedback will be presented to Phil Hope, Minister of State for Social Care. Users of NHS Evidence ethnicity and health were invited to make their contributions. The Afiya response to the consultation is now complete, and you can download the full report from this Afiya webpage.
Diabetes testing
An editorial in a recent issue of the British Medical Journal (BMJ) by Bayanne Olabi and Raj Bhopal highlights concerns that existing tests for Diabetes, notably the IGTT (Glucose tolerance tests), may produce differing results in diverse ethnic groups. (Read it here.)
NHS Evidence - ethnicity and health Annual Evidence Update 2009
Our Annual Evidence Update, previously the SLEH National Knowledge Week, was published in the week of 19th October. You can see Dr. Surinder Sharma's introduction and access the topic articles through this link.
For previous Knowledge Weeks and other articles, click on the link in the column to the right, or here.
We have also made the following Update available, on 'Swine Flu'.
Pandemic Flu and Marginalized Ethnic Minority Groups
Although the H1N1 sub-type (‘Swine Flu’) seems to favour people of a certain age, Pandemic Flu does not discriminate on grounds of ethnicity. Nonetheless, there are people who are currently, or may become more vulnerable to the effects of pandemic flu. These include some ethnic minority individuals and groups, some recent arrivals from overseas, people whose first language is not English, asylum seekers and refugees. It is recognised by DH that they require ‘special consideration’.
The public health and equity risks of not including all members of society in prevention and treatment are very real. This is why it has been added to the ‘exempt from charges’ disease list. The diagnosis and treatment of Pandemic Influenza is free to all.
To support local health workers, Alison Ricketts, Regional Co-ordinator for Health & Migration, DH North West, has compiled a collection of resources in minority languages. These, and some recommendations, are now hosted on the NHS NorthWest’s Health Equality Library Portal (HELP), including several .pdf files which 'NHS Evidence - ethnicity and health' is unable to post itself. Further details and access to these resources can be found on this link to HELP. There is also an excellent video explaining the national Swine Flu leaflet in BSL.
Our thanks to Alison and Anurita Mulchand of HELP for collaborating with us on this.
Race For Health - New Good Practice Guide Launched
Cynthia Bower, Chief Executive of the new Care Quality Commission (the NHS regulator) noted at a Race for Health workshop that ‘The NHS has a legal responsibility to promote race equality and tackle discrimination, both as an employer and as a provider or commissioner of health services. Even so, studies continue to show that people from minority ethnic groups have more difficulty accessing healthcare, and, when they do, the experience and the outcomes for them are not as good as for other people' The workshop particularly drew attention to the need to reduce the incidence of conditions such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and some cancers which disproportionately affect some black and minority ethnic (BME) communities. Many of these topics are highlighted by the NHS Evidence Annual Evidence Update 'editorials' (see above).
Race for Health has also published a new guide entitled ‘Leading Action on Race Equality in Health’. The 44-page guide distils the legislative, policy and regulatory imperatives for taking action on race equality and sets out good practice from the 21 Primary Care Trusts that are members of the programme, and other sources. [download pdf]
Recently Published
- Cell Biology - A recently published study has shown that it is possible to develop liver cells which have distinctive ethnic characteristics - this 'proof of concept' study has clear links to our recent editorial report on pharmaco-vigilance and the need to look at clinical differences between ethnic groups in their treatment.
- Diabetes UK has produced a toolkit to aid in the hosting of Diabetes Awareness sessions to people from south Asian communites. The toolkit includes a handbook, two powerpoint presentations, speaker notes and a quiz about food myths. Further details can be viewed here.
- Video Resource for 'new users' of the NHS. The Black Health Agency in Manchester has created an on-line 16 minute video clip covering key issues in using the NHS - including entitlement, using the GP as gateway to services, registration, time-keeping if given an appointment, and repeat prescriptions (access here). It is available in 8 commonly required languages, and although not available in Punjabi, the Urdu version may be accessible to speakers of other South Asian languages.
Cultural and Religious Events in February 2010 (1431 AH; 4707/8 Chinese calendar)
And a happy new year to our Chinese users!
- 14th Feb 'Valentine's day' (a secular event based on the myth of a Christian Saint)
- - also start of the Chinese New Year!
- 15th Feb Parinirvana (Buddhist)
- 17th Feb Ash Wednesday (start of Lent; Christian)
- 26th Feb Milau's Al nabi (Birthday of the Prophet: Islamic)
- 28th Feb Holi (Hindu)
- 28th Feb Purim (Jewish)
NB 1st March is St David's day - a significant day for the Welsh.
Our grateful thanks to Woodlands Junior School, Kent, for their helpful religious calendar.
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About NHS Evidence - ethnicity and health
We aim to select the best available evidence about management of a health care service and specific needs in health care for migrant and minority ethnic groups. We can only provide guidance on electronically available resources (i.e. items available on the internet). For more information, use the 'Welcome to New Users' link or read 'More about this site' on another page.
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To suggest resources for NHS Evidence - ethnicity and health, please use our suggestion form. The form is on another site, but you will be returned here once you have made your suggestion.
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If you are holding a workshop, conference or other event you would like the Library to post in the Events section, please use our event form. It is on another site, but you will be returned here when your submission is made.
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‘Ethnicity’ is a complex issue. Many different terms are used to describe ethnic groups: some guidance is given in an article about 'Concepts of Diversity' (opens new window on another site).
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Ethnicity and Heath Newsletter
See the latest 'Ethnicity and Health Newsletter'.
To receive it by email, just email sleh@dmu.ac.uk and ask to go on the list.
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