July 29, 2020

over £4m announced for new research on Covid-19 and BAME communities

People from Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities are nearly twice as like to die from COVID-19 as white people. Six new research projects totalling £4.3mil, funded by NIHR and UK Research and Innovation, will look at understanding and addressing the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on BAME communities. Journalists heard from researchers kicking off research on three of these projects:

The studies focus on:

– Examining the risks to Black, Asian and minority ethnic healthcare workers (including doctors, nurses, cleaners and porters);

– Understanding the impact on minority ethnic and migrant groups and how to tackle it in community settings – building on the study “Virus Watch”;

– Designing culturally relevant health messages for Black and South Asian groups

Speakers included:

Dr Manish Pareek, Associate Clinical Professor in Infectious Diseases, University of Leicester and Leicester Royal Infirmary

Prof Kamlesh Khunti, Professor of Primary Care Diabetes and Vascular Medicine at the University of Leicester

Prof Aftab Ala, Consultant Hepatologist at the Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust, Guildford and Professor of Hepatology at Kings College Hospital and University of Surrey

Dr Robert Aldridge, Wellcome Clinical Research Career Development Fellow and Consultant in Public Health, Institute of Health Informatics, UCL