Caribbean and African Health Network aims to improve community support in Bolton

Be it serious heart conditions, cancer or even mental health, the black community has found itself at a disadvantage with health care experiences.

However, a new organisation is aiming to tackle the issue it says has been prevalent for decades and build a legacy of improvements.

The Caribbean and African Health Network (CAHN) will work across Greater Manchester (GM) with communities to influence and impact changes to policies and practices surrounding racial disparities in health services.

It has been founded following the work by chairman Dr Faye Bruce, looking into why there is a prevalence if cardiovascular diseases in the African and Caribbean communities.

Her research found that the communities either felt the national health advise available was either not relevant to their lifestyle or was not being accessed.

She said: "It is quite a significant community with horrendous health issues.

"I have been looking at health information available publicly and if it is accessible and relevant to those communities across Greater Manchester.

"One of the big things to come out was the need for a tailored advice for them as a community.

"The communities have been here for a long time and the support should be available. However, it is not a simple or straight cut as that. What we need to do is take the community to one side and find out what it needs.

"There is a gap and people are coming to CAHN because we are addressing it."

Among the issues are high numbers of cases of diseases like sickle cell anaemia – a red blood cell disorders – and lupus – where the immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissue.

Cancer cases are also high, with conditions like prostate and breast cancer developing earlier in the black community.

Cardiovascular disease, which can cause issues such as angina, heart attacks, heart failure and strokes, is also very prevalent.

Some of this is down to issues over diet and causes further problems such as mental health, which Dr Bruce believes needs a tailored approach in the communities.

She explains: "Dietary information, public health websites and campaigns like Eat Well are not recognised as being relevant to large sections of the Afro-Caribbean community.

"They don't know how it reflects on what they eat within their cultural foods.

"There is also a different in leisure and understanding of how their faith is a major factor in knowledge and education.

"It is growing in terms of faith engagement, 84 per cent of the population attend church or have some affiliation to a church. However, there is also stigma in some places around mental health and denials about its existence.

"Mental health statistics are rife in the community in terms of the treatment that black people are offered. Sometimes it is not right for those individuals.

"We are working hard on improving engagement and looking at how we can educate and inform to get the message across on the importance of emotional and mental health."

Dr Bruce, a senior lecturer in nursing at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU), started in partnership with MMU and the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership actively engaging with the Caribbean and African communities to find out what they were missing out on in terms of health engagement.

From the research with different community organisations and faith groups, the registered non profit organisation CAHN was created.

In Bolton, the organisation is working with the town's NHS Clinical Commissioning Group, which is responsible for the planning and commissioning of local health care services, as well as other health and community organisations to develop outreach programmes.

CAHN was officially launch on Friday as part of Black History Month as a cutting edge response to the identified public health needs.

Dr Bruce added: "There's been nothing like this before for the African and Caribbean community.

"It has been welcomed and the response we have has shown there is a need here and a gap.

"We need to bring changes in order to make health equal and address the needs of all different parts of our communities.

"It starts and ends in the communities. That's where the need is and this is will be addressed by the grassroots.

"We got information from the community and CAHN developed as a result of this evidence. This evidence will effect both practitioners and national policy to make sure there is a positive change on a national level."

To find out more about CAHN email Dr Bruce at f.bruce@mmu.ac.uk or visit the 'Caribbean & African Health Network (CAHN) Greater Manchester' Facebook page.