introduction | presentations | programme | venue | delegate list | supporters | sponsors | evaluation | photos
<
Poster presentation:
Tobacco cessation among south asians in the UK
Leena Sankla
View Powerpoint Presentation 
Abstract
Parts of the UK such as Birmingham, Southall, Leicester, Bradford, Coventry, Slough and East London have a large ethnic community comprising predominately of Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic groups. There is a high ratio of tobacco consumption amongst these communities in the UK (source: COI research). Few tobacco cessation service exists which specifically target this community, and in many cases these are considered 'hard to reach' groups.
Indeed if we look at one such town in the UK, i.e. Slough, the smoking cessation figures by ethnicity for 2004/05, show 15% of the quitters were from non-white ethnic groups. This is well short of an estimate of 18% minimum for equity. Slough National Health Service and Borough Council have a target to raise this to 25%. Slough has a South Asian population of approx 42%.
In addition, these communities are exposed to higher risk of tobacco related diseases, such as heart disease, strokes, high blood pressure and related diseases.
The Cardio Wellness Charity is one of the few organisation, which has tailored a culturally sensitive programme specifically targeting these communities.
Leena Sankla has been heading these projects for Cardio Wellness and has been instrumental in setting up these clinics, training material and the staff training. Early indication is showing success rates of about 32%, well above the expected target of 25%, and minimum 18% for equity.
Leena will provide a brief on the current South Asian population demographics for the UK, focusing on the scale of the problem, the health implications, approach, methodology, treatment plans and will share some important insight and techniques from these clinics.
These clinics have seen users of all tobacco including smokers, chewers, and even shisha and hooka users. The service has also been extended to include illegal immigrants and asylum seekers.
Biography
Ms Leena Sankla is the co-founder of the Cardio Wellness Charity, which specifically focuses on health inequalities within the Black, Minority & Ethnic (BME) community. Leena has a counselling psychology background and is a stop smoking specialist. She is multilingual in a number of BME languages and her particular expertise is in reaching hard to reach groups. She has a long-standing knowledge of smoking and tobacco control, inc tobacco chewing within the South Asian community and has been a special guest on National and Satellite TV and radio.Leena has lectured for the WHO at ST Georges Hospital and has been a guest speaker for India's first National Conference on Tobacco Control on behalf of the Advocacy Forum for Tobacco Control (AFTC). This was hosted at India's prestigious Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai.
Leena Sankla
Project Director
Cardio Wellness Charity,
PO Box 2360,
Reading,
RG2 7WU.
| |
|
