There is an urgent need to address ‘stark health inequalities’ for Black African and Black Caribbean communities in the UK, a report by the Partnership for Black People’s Health (PBPH) has said.
The findings highlight the role of community engagement in healthcare through culturally appropriate health interventions, greater representation, and Black-led initiatives within healthcare.
There was a strong consensus that intentional, Black-focused, and Black-led health initiatives are not just necessary but are long overdue.
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Supported by the NHS Race and Health Observatory, the report was launched this week at the Black Health Inequalities Summit and is described by researchers as ‘a call to action for all those who seek to create a healthcare system that truly serves the needs of all communities’.
The PBPH is a collaboration between academics at Queen Mary University of London and community leaders, healthcare professionals, and individuals with lived experiences. It aims to improve experiences for Black African and Black Caribbean communities within the UK healthcare system.
Five areas for action identified
Through a series of public engagement events and collaborations, the PBPH partnership sought to prioritise community-led engagement to ensure that Black voices can play a central role in shaping the future of healthcare. Between August 2023 and April 2024, the partnership said it held 16 public engagement events with over 200 Black individuals in total from a range of backgrounds, including older men over 60, queer men, recent migrants, women with specific health conditions, and young people.
The research highlighted how the NHS is failing the Black community and enabled the partnership to develop five ‘areas for action’ that will help inform future research and advocacy priorities in the UK’s healthcare provision for Black communities.
The first area for action centred around concerns relating to the deterioration of the NHS, and while all healthcare users feel this, black communities are disproportionately affected. The researchers say that the ‘unique challenges’ and ‘existing inequalities’ are amplified for Black communities in a system that is in decline.
There was a desire in Black communities to consider healthcare outside the NHS and for healthcare providers to recognise alternative, traditional, and community-based ways of supporting health.
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For Black women, there is an urgent need to address health inequalities that disproportionately impact them, particularly in gynaecology, pain management, and maternal care.
Within the Black communities, there was also a need for advocacy when navigating the complexity of the healthcare system, with many highlighting the need for diverse peer-led approaches for those who need language support, assistance with digital health tools, or face-to-face guidance.
‘Cultural sensitivity at all levels of the NHS’
In addition, the partnership would like to build genuine connections between healthcare professionals and Black communities. Achieving this requires an urgent need to prioritise anti-racism and cultural sensitivity at all levels of the NHS.
Dr Sara Paparini, senior lecturer in public health and equity at Queen Mary University, said: ‘This project aims to put an end to assumptions about who can and cannot be in the driving seat of research, who is and who isn’t hard to reach, and who should decide how to frame problems and seek solutions.’
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She added: ‘Communities can and will speak for themselves, and it is through the challenges and joys of co-production that we can create a new evidence-base that can address what appear as ‘intractable’ problems. The project intentionally centres Black Voices in health equity issues that affect Black Communities, and is also a blueprint for change in the way we carry out research across the board.’
