2. State of health of migrants and minorities

From United Kingdom Wiki

1 Overview
2 Physical Health
3 Mental Health
4 Determinants of health
5 Specific groups

Overview

The health and health-delivery issues that concern ethnic minorities may not necessarily concern migrants and vice versa. Migrants may not necessarily be ethnic minorities in the UK and have health concerns that may be different to the minority population in the UK. As such the groups are looked at separately, but some of the issues are consistent and can be applied to both groups.

The Commission for Racial Equality commissioned a report that was published in September 2007. The report stated that on average minority Britons were more likely to experience poor health compared to the overall population. The paper also reported that ill-health in ethnic minorities starts at a younger age than the rest of the British population.

The same picture emerges from "Diversity and different experiences in the UK" National Statistician’s Annual Article on Society by Karen Dunnell (2008). This report shows increased rates of long‑term illness or disability and worse reported health in several ethnic groups.

There are a number of diseases which could be defined as ethnically specific:

Tay Sachs disease is associated with people of Jewish descent

Glucose 6 Phosphate Dehydrogenase deficiency is associated with people from the Mediterranean

Cystic Fibrosis affects mostly white Europeans and some South Asians

Sickle Cell Diseases affect mostly African-Caribbeans and Asians.

British people of Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Carribean and Irish origin were more likely to report the poorest health, whilst people from Indian and African heritage were similar to the overall population and those of Chinese origin had better levels of health than the British population.

Overall it was found that ethnic minority Britons (this includes those of white ethnicity from other countries e.g. Irish, Polish, Australian) tend to have higher rates of cardio-vascular disease than the rest of the population:

Men originally from South Asia were 50% more likely have a heart attack or suffer from angina

Men originally from the Caribbean were 50% more likely to die from a stroke

People of Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Afro-Caribbean origin were 3-6% more likely to suffer from type II diabetes and

Smoking is most prevalent amongst men from the Bangladeshi community (44%) and from the Irish community (39%).

See also:

Health Protection Agency (2006). Migrant Health: Infectious diseases in non-UK born populations in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. A baseline report – 2006. London: Health Protection Agency Centre for Infections. Download

Glasgow Anti Racist Alliance (GARA) (2008) The State of the Nation – Race and Racism in Scotland 2008 Web site. Download chapter on health (2Mb) here. (Contains information about the state of health of different ethnic groups in Scotland.)

Article on "Ethnicity and health" in Wikipedia.

Book: Long-term ill health, poverty and ethnicity (2007), by Sarah Salway, Lucinda Platt, Punita Chowbey, Kaveri Harriss and Elizabeth Bayliss

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Physical Health

Asthma

Blood Disorders e.g. sickle cell disease, thalassaemia, anaemia and haemophilia.

Cancer

Cardiovascular Diseases

Diet and Diet-Related Illnesses e.g. obesity, inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes and vitamin deficiency. Coronary heart disease is dealt with in the previous section.

Hypertension

Learning disabilities / difficulties

Maternal health, perinatal mortality & morbidity e.g. maternity care, pregnancy prone conditions and antenatal screening.

Occupational safety

Sexually Transmitted Diseases .

HIV and AIDS

Smoking and Related Illnesses

Tuberculosis

Tropical Diseases

Visual Impairment

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