Opinion
We would never ignore decades of scientific evidence on the cause of a disease – why is racism any different?
3 hours ago The Independent
When it comes to health in Britain, racism has a lot to answer for. Whether it be historical, institutional, or overt, any and all “types” of racism have recognised and quantifiable effects on the health of people from minority ethnic backgrounds. That the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, whose report was published this week, has found otherwise is yet another example of how Britain continues to ignore the many ways in which the social world impacts on health.
The UK Government published its controversial Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities report on March 31.
Health experts writing in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) say that the report is divorced from reality and that its attempts to undermine scientific findings will put lives at risk . The report claims that, although overt racism exists, there are no systemic disadvantages in the UK against people from minority ethnic backgrounds.
The 258-page report also argues that family structure and social class are the key drivers of life outcomes, saying that people from minority backgrounds often do better than their white peers. However, the BMJ piece argues that the report is presenting falsehoods, saying its “methodology and language, its lack of scientific expertise, and the well-known opinions of its authors make it more suitable as a political manifesto”.
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If we needed more evidence that national wealth, scientific knowledge, technical know-how and sophisticated healthcare don’t guarantee healthier lives, then the impact of the coronavirus pandemic has provided it. Covid-19 is cutting life expectancy in many wealthy Western countries, cancelling decades of gains already under threat from growing inequality.
The United States is the stand-out failure. For decades, enormous spending on healthcare has failed to produce better health and longer lives than in many other countries that spend less. Covid-19 has added hugely to the mortality toll, with a disproportionate number of deaths among already-lagging minority populations. But even before the pandemic, average life expectancy in the United States, and in Britain, had fallen in recent years.
Women s healthy life expectancy drops by five months, but men see no change
Office for National Statistics says greater awareness and willingness to be open about mental health conditions may be a factor
25 January 2021 • 5:45pm
Women s healthy life expectancy (HLE) has fallen by five months while the rate for men has stayed the same, Government figures show.
On Monday, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published data analysing life expectancy for men and women from 2017 to 2019. It showed that female HLE was almost five months shorter between 2017 to 2019 than in 2014 to 2016, and at its lowest since the time series began in 2009 to 2011.
Donna Kinnair
The chief executive and general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing has been appointed as a non-executive director for the newly created NHS Race and Health Observatory.
Dame Donna Kinnair (pictured above) will sit on the board alongside 14 other members who together were described as being some of the world’s leading experts on the subject of health inequalities.
“This work is vitally important and I am honoured to contribute in any way I can
Donna Kinnair
Other members include Professor Sir Michael Marmot, who authored the landmark Marmot Review into health inequalities in 2010, which was updated in 2020, and Lord Victor Adebowale, former chief executive of the social care enterprise Turning Point and now chair of NHS Confederation.