The Princess Royal visited Church End on 4 February to see how the Brent Health Matters (BHM) programme has been working with the local Somali community.
The BHM programme was developed as a response to health inequalities issues exposed by Covid. When the first wave of Covid struck, Brent suffered the highest age-adjusted cumulative death rate in the whole of the UK. One street in Church End saw 42 of its residents die from Covid.
Zaitun gets her blood pressure checked.
Since its inception four and half years ago, BHM has held hundreds of events in the borough carrying out over 10,000 health checks around log term health inequality issues such as diabetes, hypertension and bowel cancer.
Recently the programme expanded to address the needs of children and young people, employing a new team of nurses and other health practitioners concentrating on immunisations, asthma and mental health.
A recent event held at Chalkhill Community Centre saw 210 people from the Somali community attend, including Zaitun Said, 60, from Kilburn. She told Your Brent, “I learned a lot from different organisations about how families can get help in Brent, and the most important things to look after children’s health and development.
“I also had a blood pressure check, and it was up and down, so now I need to see my GP for a check-up,” explained Zaitun. “Today was a great opportunity to learn about health. More knowledge is more power. I am proud to be Somali, and I am happy that the council and NHS are thinking about our community.”
Doing things with communities, rather than to communities, has entirely changed the impact we have been able to make on health inequalities in Brent
The event was co-produced with Willesden-based Somali organisation SAAFI and Zaitun heard about the event through a friend who had been notified by SAAFI. BHM has always been rooted in the partnership with the community and producing events with local organisations to ensure it reaches those most in need of support and information.
“Doing things with communities, rather than to communities, has entirely changed the impact we have been able to make on health inequalities in Brent,” explained Cllr Neil Nerva, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, Public Health and Leisure.
“Brent Health Matters power of co-production is no better demonstrated than with the nine Somali organisations in the borough we helped bring together into a Somali Forum. Hundreds of local residents have attended the many events we have held together in our parks and community centres using Somali-speaking clinicians.”
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