Health issues in ethnic minorities: awareness and action.
A key issue in health provision is the approach to health inequalities. In the UK, black and ethnic minority populations are disadvantaged in this respect. We obtained annual/public health reports from 13 health authorities (HAs) and 22 primary care trusts/groups (PCT/Gs) serving conurbations with large black and ethnic minority populations, and examined them for mention of special health issues for these groups and the action being taken. 22 of the 35 reports referred to such issues but only 17 referred to special initiatives; the most frequently mentioned were diabetes and coronary heart disease. We recommend that HAs and PCT/Gs serving large black and ethnic minority populations state specifically in their annual reports their awareness of health-equality issues and the action being taken to address them.
Memon
M
M
Guild Community Healthcare NHS Trust, Preston, UK.
Abbas
F
F
Khaonolakar
M
M
Dixon
J
J
Singh
I
I
D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000208:ethnology; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000208:ethnology; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006779:Hospitals, Public; D006801:Humans; D008913:Minority Groups / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011320:Primary Health Care; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013222:State Medicine / Q000592:standards; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology