Bristol PCT ... South Asian Community Diabetes Facilitator Project
The Bristol Primary Care Trusts have produced a report on the South Asian Community Diabetes Facilitator Project. The project which was funded by NICE and hosted by the Joint Public Health Directorate of the Bristol Primary Care Trusts had two distinct but interrelated objectives (i) to develop services which improve health and well-being, and reduce health inequalities, within the South Asian population specifically around diabetes. A critical element being the promotion of physical activity, good nutrition, smoking cessation, and weight management; (ii) to increase employment opportunities within the NHS for South Asian people in the midlife.
The key initiative of the approach has been the recruitment of two workers from the South Asian community to act as Community Facilitators. The Facilitators have been able to provide culturally appropriate advice on diabetes and relevant lifestyle issues, as well as promoting NHS job opportunities amongst South Asian people in the midlife, including a Diabetes Awareness Day in June 2005 attended by over 200 people with or at high risk of developing diabetes.
Habib Naqvi, co-author on the report said: "not only is the rate of Type 2 diabetes in the South Asian communities over five times higher than the general population, but people of South Asian origin have both worse diabetic control and greater prevalence of diabetic complications than the general population. This project provided South Asian communities of Bristol with culturally appropriate information and advice about diabetes and diabetic complications in South Asian languages. The initiative has been an important educational tool and a boost to ethnic language health resources in Bristol".
Habib Naqvi
11 May 2006