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Project Detox aims to provide empirical, scientific evidence at the grassroot level to all ethnic minority communities (irrespective of religion, caste, creed, race) in a format that is relevant and sustainable to promote positive, attainable individual and community advancement in the biological, sociological and pscycho-social domains that are adversely affecting the ethnic minority communities today.
Why project Detox?
- All ethnic minority groups perform less exercise than the non ethnic population
- All ethnic minority groups have a poorer knowledge of nutrition and diet, compared to the non ethnic population
- Some ethnic minority groups have the highest levels of heart disease in the UK
- Some ethnic minority groups have the highest levels of diabetes in the UK
- Ethnic minority groups are massively under-represented in research that guides medical practice
These are just some government facts, verified over the last 10 years, that serve to highlight the unacceptable state of ethnic minority health. The body of evidence is small, but convincing, repeatedly proving, from obesity to mental health, that the ethnic minorities are unhealthier than the general population and poorly educated on health related issues.
The problem is multi-factorial; inadequate access to public health information, pervasive cultural norms, societal isolation, language barriers all serve, among other factors, to perpetuate our maladaptive health behaviours.
What are the aims of project Detox?
- To present the facts and conclusions of medical evidence to the wider ethnic minority audience
- To target areas that are negatively affecting the ethnic minority communities:-
- Health education (eg Anti-smoking campaigns, bone marrow and blood donation, sexual health)
- Health promotion (eg Breast cancer screening awareness, Well woman, Well man seminars)
- Highlight common diseases affecting specific communities (eg Diabetes and heart attacks in the Pakistani community, high blood pressure and stroke in the Bengali community, TB/HIV in immigrant populations)
- Diet and Nutrition
- Mental health
- Lifestyle and exercise
- To encourage and promote involvement in participatory research
How is project Detox going to achieve these aims?
To provide short, interactive multimedia presentations on the above topics, with emphasis on the causes and methods of deconstructing existing maladaptive behaviours and replacing them with holistic, realistic, common sense adaptive alternatives. These presentations will be delivered in the community setting, at venues chosen by community representatives, addressed to the community constituents by qualified, state registered health professionals
What are the challenges of project Detox?
Many paradoxes face those seeking to promote health in multicultural communities and societies in which equity stands as a central value. We prize diversity, but we loathe disparities, at least in matters of health. Can we protect and even promote diversity in ethnicity while seeking to eliminate disparities in health?
At the global and national levels we seek uniform policies to ensure equity across regions, while recognising that the essence of diversity and multicultural sensitivity depends on local, family and even individual autonomy. The only way to achieve equity in the face of inherited social, economic, and political inequalities and inequitable societal forces is to treat people or populations differently.
The tendency of those who produce “best practice” guidelines too often generalise from the theories and evidence generated in mainstream populations or from the experience of successful health promotion programs in one population. As guidance for practice in another population, especially another culture, this has led many programs down a path of misplaced precision and misguided certainty about practices. We need to avoid these generalisations by addressing the question of promoting health for each of the major ethnic populations separately with increased sensitivity to religion, traditional norms and language.
One over-riding lesson drawn from the multicultural experiences of the past would be that promoting health in multicultural populations must ultimately be from within the cultures intended to benefit from the health promotion. Yes, collaboration between an ethnic minority population and professional practitioners from the majority culture can be helpful and productive, but such collaboration must be in the spirit of participatory research.
Why participatory research? Because the health promotion task in every community is first to understand itself, second to communicate that understanding with consistency and credibility, and third to produce action from the understanding and commitment mobilised by its communication. These are the three elements of participatory research: systematic investigation, co-learning and action. This is the key to Project Detox; an isolated presentation or a day seminar, is NOT enough. We need to first understand the level of our knowledge of disease, diet and local services, before we can educate. When we educate, we want to know if people`s health behaviours changed and what changed them. When people reform their health behaviours we want to know if they stay reformed, if it lasted a day, a week, or a year. If so, why? This question “why?” is the cornerstone of every scientific endeavour, and we have made it the cornerstone of Project Detox.
Answering “why?”, long term follow up of community health and health behaviours, promoting diversity and preserving equity are just some of the hurdles. They are NOT insurmountable, and Project Detox is taking steps to directly engage with both the community and these challenges.
What does the future hold for project Detox?
- Create alliances with community groups working to promote health in the community
- Partnerships with local and national organisations (eg Department of Health, British Heart Foundation) to attain mutual goals
- Regular audit and appraisal of the efficacy of Project Detox`s presentations and seminars
- Data obtained from questionnaires and voluntary cohort studies will form the basis of research and evidence that can directly be fed back to the community.
The initial scheme will occur in London for 24 months, followed by a de-centralised national project.
How to get involved?
Please contact
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if:
- You would like more information or have any questions or comments
- You know of a group or organisation that would be interested in hosting Project Detox
- You are interested in becoming part of the Project Detox team
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