The Centre for BME Health launched in 2016 with a remit to addressing ethnic health inequalities – and that’s exactly what we have been doing.
The Centre is funded by NIHR CLAHRC East Midlands and we focus on addressing such inequalities by involving communities in a meaningful fashion, so that people’s voices and opinions are not only heard but also form the basis of solutions.
We are unique as we bring together researchers, health and social care practitioners and communities, uniting members with the same purpose.
We are also proud of our achievements to date and thought we would use the occasion of our two-year anniversary as an opportunity to celebrate progress made so far. Examples of our work, include…
| The Big Health Connect Event 16 October 2017
Supported by our Centre, the event took place at Moat Community College, on Monday 16 October 2017. A range of stalls, provided advice on healthy eating, as well as the chance to be tested for Type 2 diabetes. There was also reflexology and holistic therapy and a corner for children with arts and crafts as well as a playbus outside the venue. |
| Translating the Leicester Self-Assessment Questionnaire for South Asians
The Leicester Self-assessment Risk score (LSAS) is an example of a validated risk score that has been developed for use in a multi ethnic population for detecting undiagnosed Type 2 Diabetes and those at high risk of developing diabetes in the next 10 years. We used a translation model to produce conceptually linguistic equivalent versions in Gujarati, Bengali and we are currently on the stage five with the Gurmukhi Punjabi which is to be ready soon. |
| Sickle Cell Awareness Campaign
In June 2017, we supported a campaign to raise awareness of sickle cell, especially amongst BAME communities. We worked in association with North London CLAHRC in the project to raise awareness of the genetic blood disorder affecting about 15,000 people in England. |
| Raising Awareness and prevention of type 2 DIAbeTEs (RADIATE)
We are working with several partner organisations as part of a campaign to raise awareness and prevent Type 2 diabetes, including staging a series of healthy eating and fitness events. |
| 100,000 Genome Project
The 100,000 genome project involves DNA mapping the blood and tumours of cancer patients (as well as the blood of patients with rare inherited diseases) to help us understand the causes of tumours. The Centre for BME Health has been working alongside the clinical genetics team at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust to meaningfully engage with the African Caribbean Community through a series of awareness sessions. This has resulted in the effective engagement of over 600 new individuals. |
| PARADES
The booklet ‘Advance Planning for People with Bipolar Disorder’ has been available as part of the PARADES (Psychoeducation, Anxiety, Relapse, Advance Directive Evaluation and Suicidality) work for some time. Following focus groups and other activities, feedback received from the BAME communities asked for the resource to be simplified and redeveloped to meet their needs. The booklet is now being redesigned to accommodate a broader spectrum of conditions and the language used is to be user-friendly and understood. |
