50 Health & Food
mojatu.com
Remote monitoring - Saving Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Lives during Covid-19 and beyond COVID-19 has adversely affected people’s health across the globe, and many have lost their lives due to complications from having other medical conditions like high blood pressure (HBP) and Type2 diabetes (T2D). The CheckUp Health app is the only solution of its kind that focuses on the healthcare sector in the HBP/ T2D BAME community especially while they are being adversely affected by Covid-19. With the mHealth app and website, patients are empowered to manage their own health by monitoring their blood pressure/type 2 diabetes safely from their own homes using remote monitoring devices. Thanks to The CheckUp Health app and remote monitoring devices, patients can perform many of the tests required for type 2 diabetes /high blood pressure in their homes, without having to travel and be unnecessarily exposed to Covid-19. This will improve the overall health of the BAME community and offer them real-time assistance when they need it, at whatever stage of their health problem they are in. CheckUp Health has a variety of healthcare professionals who understand the needs of the BAME community. BAME people are more likely to contract Covid-19 due to a variety of factors like genetics, poverty, use of public transport and as previously mentioned, HBP and T2D. Age and BAME are two of the major contributing factors, and when combined with intergenerational households, the exposure to high risk people by asymptomatic super spreaders is much higher. The CheckUp Health project is vital in improving the health of BAME communities which have been overlooked in the past due to various factors. With over 50 years of experience, CheckUp Health addresses the healthcare inequalities exposed by Covid-19 in the BAME population by focusing on this
community and offering them a way to monitor and improve their health remotely. CheckUp Health strives to meet the needs of the HBP/T2D BAME community. No matter what stage the patient is at with their diagnosis, CheckUp Health is here to meet the needs of the HBP/T2D BAME community every step of the way. During the pandemic, BAME patients had 20% less access to treatment than before Covid-19, which severely affected their ability to get the Covid-19 treatment they needed. As a result, and because T2D and HBP increases the risk of severe Covid-19 infection, BAME patients have a 10%-50% increased risk of death. The pandemic ultimately exposed the exacerbated longstanding inequalities affecting BAME people in the UK, and their health outcomes are now worse than ever. Due to genetics, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) people are more likely to have high blood pressure (HBP) and Type 2 diabetes (T2D) compared to Caucasians, and because of these health conditions, are more susceptible to Covid-19. The UK has 4 million people with T2D. Africans/AfricaCaribbeans are three times more likely and South Asians six times more likely to develop T2D. 50% of T2D sufferers also have high blood pressure and T2D is 3-4 times more likely to occur in black people of African/ Africa-Caribbean descent than white people. mHealth is paramount in getting BAME communities the monitoring and medical treatment they need during the pandemic. But due to factors like language difficulties (most apps are in English- BAME people’s second or third language) religious beliefs and poverty, to name a few, BAME people have not been able to get the help they so desperately need.
