Apnee Sehat project tackles health inequalities
A project to tackle health inequalities in the South Asian population is to be rolled out across Great Britain after gaining additional funding from the University of Warwickshire and a pathfinder grant from the Department of Health's social enterprise unit. The project was
also shortlisted for the 2006 health and social care awards, the winners
of which were announced this week.
Apnee Sehat, meaning “our health” in Punjabi, is based in
Leamington Spa. It uses patient education initiatives, community events,
posters, recipes, calendars, cooking classes and a Bollywood-style DVD
to address the disproportionately high incidence of diabetes, strokes
and heart attacks in South Asian populations.
Community pharmacist Suchjeevan Gill provides voluntary support for the
project, helping to educate South Asian patients about how their medicines
work, the importance of taking them and possible side effects. Speaking
to The Journal, Mr Gill explained that this work was important because,
although South Asian patients understood acute treatments such as antibiotics,
many did not understand that they would need to take medicines for long-term
conditions like diabetes for the rest of their lives. Mr Gill added,
however, that the patients had appreciated the information that he had
been able to give them and he hoped to continue to be involved in the
project as it was rolled out more widely.
An Article in this week’s Journal looks at a project to improve
concordance among South Asians in Bristol (p251).
|
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
Acrobat
Reader