Ann McGauran 17 June 2020

Racism raises the risk from COVID-19 for minorities

Racism has raised the risk of people from black and ethnic minority communities developing COVID-19 and dying from the disease, says an official report.

The new report from Public Health England (PHE) contains recommendations missing from an earlier version, alongside an acknowledgement of the contribution made by the PHE’s national director for health and wellbeing Professor Kevin Fenton. Professor Fenton had been asked by PHE to engage with the BAME community on its behalf to hear their views on the impact of COVID-19 on their communities.

The report's recommendations include calls for mandatory comprehensive and quality ethnicity data collection and recording, support for community participatory research, and improved access, experiences and outcomes of NHS, local government and integrated care systems commissioned services.

It also recommends the acceleration of culturally competent occupational risk assessment tools, COVID-19 education and prevention campaigns and health promotion and disease prevention programmes, and ensuring that COVID-19 recovery strategies actively reduce inequalities caused by the wider determinants of health to create ‘long term sustainable change’.

Responding to the report, BMA council chair Dr Chaand Nagpaul said: ‘Now that the second report with recommendations has been fully published we must see urgent and tangible action’.

He added: ‘The Government, who commissioned this review must now produce a clear action plan with timescales of how these recommendations will be implemented.’

Chief executive of Calderdale MBC and joint policy lead on community wellbeing for Solace Robin Tuddenham said he had been in the reference group that ‘had a couple of conversations alongside some other people with Professor Fenton’.

In a letter to council staff following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Mr Tuddenham said the original report from PHE ‘lacked recommendations, or reference to what we know and understand to be the impact of structural and systemic racism, which as Sir Michael Marmot argues, is the underlying factor leading to health inequalities and lessened life chances for black and Asian communities’.

He added: ‘I said in my letter it was very disappointing that for whatever reason there were no recommendations (in the original report).’

Righting Wrongs

SIGN UP
For your free daily news bulletin
Highways jobs

Chief Executive

Ebbsfleet Development Corporation
up to £165,000
Ebbsfleet is one of the UK’s most ambitious regeneration projects, a 21st-century Garden City Ebbsfleet, Kent
Recuriter: Ebbsfleet Development Corporation

EHC Assessment and Review Co-Ordinator - Part Time

The Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea Council
Up to £44937 per annum
Champion the journey for children and young people with special educational needs, ensuring they have every opportunity to thrive.This is a part time, England, London, City of London
Recuriter: The Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea Council

Part Time Environmental Health Officer (Housing and Caravan/Mobile Home Site Licensing)

Ribble Valley Borough Council
SO2 (scp 29-32) £39,862 to £42,839 per annum pro rata
We are looking for an enthusiastic, self-motivated and experienced Environmental Health Officer Clitheroe, Lancashire
Recuriter: Ribble Valley Borough Council

UTMC Principal Engineer

Kirklees Metropolitan Council
£37,035-£45,718 (dependent on experience)
Join our team at Kirklees Council and help shape the future of urban mobility. Kirklees, West Yorkshire
Recuriter: Kirklees Metropolitan Council

Coroners and The County Mortuary Service Manager

West Northamptonshire Council
£55036 - £58879
About the role West Northamptonshire Council is seeking a dynamic and experienced Coroners and County Mortuary Service Manager to lead the operational delivery of two critical services
Recuriter: West Northamptonshire Council
Linkedin Banner