Yasmin Qureshi – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Yasmin Qureshi on 2014-06-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to raise awareness of kidney disease among the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic community.

Jane Ellison

The Department is not currently undertaking any work to raise awareness of kidney disease among black, asian and minority ethnic communities. However, local National Health Service organisations can undertake such campaigns should they wish to do so.

The NHS Choices Website contains detailed information on both black and asian health issues which includes a page on the increased risk these ethnic groups have of developing kidney disease. The page can be viewed at the following link.

www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Kidneyhealth/Pages/BlackandAsiankidneyhealth.aspx

We are identifying kidney disease earlier through the NHS Health Check. This programme identifies those aged between 40 and 74 at risk of cardiovascular diseases and helps them to reduce that risk. We anticipate that up to 20,000 cases of kidney disease and diabetes (a contributing factor) could be prevented through the programme.