Health Inequalities Among BAME Background Population During Covid-19

This report covers the case study of health inequalities in comparison to the Black, Asian and Minority ethnic with the white people during the Covid-19 situation. The report covers the story that BAME background people are greater risk of Covid-19 in comparison to the white people. The report also gives brief about some national surveys, as BAME background population get less healthcare support in compare with white population during the COVID-19 treatments.

CULTURE SOCIETY AND
ETHICS CASE STUDIES FOR
ASSESSMENT A

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
DESCRIPTION......................................................................................................................3
DISCUSSION.........................................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
This report cover the case study of health inequalities in comparison to the Black, Asian
and Minority ethnic with the white people during the Covid-19 situation. The main purpose of
this case study is to show the situation of BAME background population with the white people.
The report cover the story that BAME background people are greater risk of Covid-19 in
comparison to the white people. This is due to many reason such as BAME population are
financially weak in compare to whit people, they have unprivileged society as well as less
support of healthcare services. The case study cover the report on chronic diseases such as
obesity, blood pressure and type 2 diabetes. As these disease worse the Covid-19 condition along
with increase the risk of death in Black, Asian and minority ethnic background population in
compare to white people.
The report also give brief about some national surveys, as BAME background population
get less healthcare support in compare with white population during the COVID-19 treatments.
The survey suggest to the government of UK about reinvestment in healthcare service to provide
equal healthcare services to the population of their country. The survey also advice the
government of UK to make ensures that the services provided in their country is equally without
discrimination of BAME background people to the white people in Covid-19 treatments
(Heaslip, and et.al, 2022).
MAIN BODY
DESCRIPTION
The given case study gives the brief information about the health inequalities
discrimination between the BAME background people and the white people in UK. Due to
health inequalities the COVID cases is more among the BAME people as compare to white
people of UK. The BAME stand for Black,Asian and Minority ethnic background people and the
reason for more COVID cases is multilayered such as poverty, low income as well as poor
housing. The Black,Asian and Minority ethnic background population are more likely to work in
industries that mean they cannot work from home so they must have to travel to work. So, indeed
their job may involve the BAME people to use the public transport for travelling which keep
them to contact with other people on daily basis(Donkin and et.al, 2018).

According to Ruth Watkinson and their colleagues at the university of Manchester are
found that the people of BAME background are more likely to suffer from chronic diseases such
as high blood pressure, obesity as well as type 2 diabetes as compared to white people. These
chronic disease may risk the greater chance of death from Covid-19. As for the treatment of
chronic disease, they need long term care which includes people financial support along with
health care service supports. As the BAME background people are more likely to live in
unprivileged society as well as less income than the white people which makes their life harder
to access the healthy life style. They cannot afford the healthy nutrition diet to maintain health as
well as they experience harder to access the gym or spaces to do exercise. Also they get less
support from other local health services to manage their condition as well as they feel less
confident about managing their health condition compared to white people.
According to the recent report by the office for national statistics, they found that during
the pandemic the BAME background people are more likely to work longer hour than the white
people and keep in contact with other people while travelling which lead to more Covid-19 cases
than the white people. The BAME background people are likely to be more unemployed than the
white people and the reason is less income. So, they cannot afford the higher education or better
quality education than the white people (Bambra, 2020).
According to the many national surveys found that the people of BAME background are
likely to get less support from health care worker as compared to white people during the Covid-
19 treatments. The survey noticed that something is wrong in the health system as BAME
background population can not get the required information which are needed to maintain health
during the Covid-19 as well as they cannot get the health care support during the Covid-19
situation as compared to white people. The survey suggested that the government need to
reinvest in the health care system to support the people of the country equally and also make
ensure that the people of their country access the health care system equally without the
discrimination between BAME background and the white people (Otu and et.al, 2020).
DISCUSSION
The health inequalities among a population basically means the difference in the status of
health of various groups of a population as well as the differences and discrimination that the
people experience while receiving care from any health care organisation. This kind of
discrimination or inequality results in people of minority groups being devoid of the

opportunities to lead a healthy life. For determining the health status the factors that can be
considered include the longevity of life, prevalence of a diseased condition, access to healthcare
provisions, if having the access then the quality of healthcare they are being provided with. In
addition to this presence of practices that have ill effects on health and the quality of lifestyle
also determine the health status of an individual. The practice of health inequalities in England
revolves across the factors: socio-economic factors, regional factor (urban or rural), gender,
ethnicity and disability related factors etc (Khunti and et.al, 2020).
The effects of COVID were also seen to be inordinate when compared to that of ethnic
minority groups in England. The people from BAME background experienced comparatively
higher infection rates as well as higher mortality rate as compared to the white groups. As pert
the data provide by the Kingsfund the minor ethnic groups have low disability free expectancy of
life in comparison to white people. The Black and the Asian groups also have comparatively
high infant mortality and maternal mortality rates . These groups are also more prone to chronic
diseases like cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. The evidences available in this context state
that the main determinant of health status that is life expectancy in ethnic minority groups is
affected by the deprivation in terms of socio-economic factor (Cline-Cole, 2020).
The people belonging to BAME background are also subjected to racism and
discrimination in relation to housing and employment which indirectly have ill effects on the
physical as well as mental health. Covid acted as an amplification tool for these inequalities by
disturbing all the determinant factors of health status, mainly the socio-economic factor. Another
reason for the seen health insecurities in ethnic groups is due to the prevalence of health risking
behaviours in such groups like smoking and absence of healthy eating practices
(Cheshmehzangi, 2022).
The lower socio-economic groups are also susceptible to acquire chronic health illness
and there severity is higher in ethnic minority groups than the people belonging to higher socio-
economic groups. Pertaining to so many areas where the people of minority groups have to face
discrimination and inequality, these group even have higher chances of acquiring mental health
issues. Therefore, these people also have poor mental health as compared to the white group. The
morbidity rates due to psychiatric disorders have been seen to be higher in Black and Asian men
and the rates of detention cases due to poor mental health is also higher in Black British than the
white group (Brathwaite,2019).

The major reason for health inequalities in England is in the access to health care
services. Status of access to health care services can be decided by analysing the availability of
the health care services to the subjected group, the appropriateness of the service available to
them and the ease with which they are able to have access to it. Inequality in access can result in
poor experiences and increased occurrences of negative health outcomes in a particular group of
people leading to their poor health status. These minority groups usually do not have access to
proper health care services which include access to prophylactic interventions, access to social
care services along with proper primary and secondary healthcare services. The individuals of
minority groups who get access to healthcare services, often have poor experiences of care
receiving (Vandan, Wong, and Fong, 2019). According to the data of British social attitude
survey, the majority of the who were not satisfied by the services they received at NHS was
formed by the people belonging to Black British group and those who were satisfied had less
percentage of black people. The LGBT group also experience this inequality at care providing by
the health care settings. All the above mentioned inequalities act as barriers for the minority
groups to have access to standard health care services. These all combine to negatively impact
the health status determinants of the people belonging to BAME background resulting in their
poor health status (Mullard, 2021).
Pertaining to these many inequalities which are being faced by these minority groups,
there is need to address these issues with grave concern in order to provide these groups the
standard health care that the government ensures them. Certain strategies that can be
implemented in order to improve the health status of the deprived and discriminated groups in
England are:
 The recent pandemic of Covid clearly made the inequalities faced by the minority groups
evident to the entire world. This highlights the urgent need to take actions in order to
strengthen the health management system to manage health issues of the ethnic minority
groups. For improving this management, the health care settings can practice
involvement of the members of the minority groups in planning and deciding their course
of treatment (Marmot, 2020).
 After observing the inordinate effects of Covid on the minority groups, the government is
required to address the issue of health inequalities with great concern. The administration
needs to eliminate the health inequalities by eliminating the inequalities faced by them on

the socio-economic level. This strategy will prove to be a comprehensive solution for this
issue and will help in eliminating the discrimination from roots.
 The health care industry is one such industry that can be of help eliminating the practice
of any sort of discrimination in any nation. Therefore, health care settings need to make
the service providing equitable in nature so that the health needs of all the communities
(including the ethnic minority groups) in a nation can be fulfilled.
 The formation of policies for eliminating health inequality should be done on the basis of
high quality data so that the needs of the ethnic minority groups can be well identified
and the strategies and policies can be appropriately formulated. Therefore, there is need
to focus on quality data collection from the minority groups in the nation(Le Grand,
2018).
 The government need to pass inclusive laws for racial equality in favour of the minority
groups and should also focus on improving the quality and access to education to the
minority groups.
 Strategies should also be formulated to improve economic stability among the minority
groups so that the overall living status of the people belonging to such groups can be
elevated.
 There is also need for increasing the financial contribution to the health care system for
ensuring proper availability of health care resources for all.
CONCLUSION
The above analysis of the chosen case study provides information about the prevalence of
health inequalities faced by the ethnic minority groups or the people belonging to BAME
background. It includes the effects of the discrimination faced by these groups on the
determinants of their health status. The areas where these groups face inequalities which affect
their health status are at the socio-economic level, access to healthcare services and the quality of
health care they receive. The data outbreak of COVID patients clearly suggested the
requirement of strategies formulation for improvement of the overall living status of the minority
section of the population in order to provide them with equal health status as the rest of the
population. These strategies includes policy formation for improving socio-economic status of

such groups, collection of quality data to assist policy formation, improving economic stability
and imparting them education about the policies.

REFERENCES
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