So, health inequalities is very, very prevalent in this world where more so now that we’ve had COVID and we’ve understood how the outcomes of COVID has been different. Even within the UK, we’ve had different health outcomes, depending on socioeconomic status on your ethnic background, and particularly ethnic minority people doing much worse compared to white ethnicity people. So that has been an interesting thing...
So, health inequalities is very, very prevalent in this world where more so now that we’ve had COVID and we’ve understood how the outcomes of COVID has been different. Even within the UK, we’ve had different health outcomes, depending on socioeconomic status on your ethnic background, and particularly ethnic minority people doing much worse compared to white ethnicity people. So that has been an interesting thing. Having worked in the sickle cell field for many, many years, I’m acutely aware of an overall lack of access to good quality care that sickle cell patients are being subject to.
Everyone now is aware that in England, there has been a recent report which was published by the parliament, the All Party Parliamentary Group in conjunction with the Sickle Cell Society, which really brought home something that sickle cell practitioners knew for a very long time, which is that there is great disparity in the kind of care, the quality of care, the timeliness of care, the associated stigma, and so on that’s associated with sickle cell care. So yes, health inequalities is important, and we are here to try and bridge those inequalities, think about how best we can help level the field, if you like.