Dementia and Ethnicity in the UK - Essay Example

Dementia and Ethni in UK Dementia is a condition familiar in the UK like any other disease. Most of the people know about it and actions are present to assist the patients affected with the same. But ethnicity has proved a challenge when it comes to managing of dementia. The minorities or migrants do not know much about the condition and culture has made it very hard to detect and start the treatment of the condition early enough. In the report I explain in detail why the minorities are more dare. The United Kingdom is the country that spends around over 20billion euros to take care of persons with a condition of dementia. This was according to statistics availed in the year 2012. A situation where a human being starts experiencing intermittent or complete period of memory loss is known as dementia. In the UK almost one million beings are experiencing this not so good condition and the government is spending generously to better the lives of such individuals. According to evidence, the following data packet is known by the government and has been documented as follows-: Basic information Numerical data Dementia patients Over 800000 people Dementia in young people Over 17000 people Minority and black people with dementia Above 25000 people Future projection of dementia patients Over 1 million by 2021 Gender and dementia 2/3 are women age 1/3 of patients are aged above 95 deaths 60000 per year Cost to UK Over 20 billion euros Table 1.1 The data shown in table 1.1 carries the basic information related to dementia in the UK. With this kind of data, it well evident that it is a condition that has attracted attention of government and health experts. The situation is made dire when you consider that of all the diagnosis of this condition carried out in the UK, it is only 40% of the real specimen that gets noticed. Hence note then can be taken to the rest of the beings carrying the condition. Mostly it used to affect the old and frail, but currently even young adults based on the data above are not immune (Downs, 2008, pg. 74). The condition also has a few warnings before it attacks, you find out that a person starts to exhibit poor emotional control, they become people of high anger and low excitement, and then some form of forgetfulness and finally brain black outs as the episodes continue their unrelenting attacks. Researchers have taken initiative to figure out the origin and the condition that bring about this altering of the basic brain function. But one of the interesting conclusion is that, while it affects old people more and more, the younger can avoid it by following up on the more healthy options available to people. By healthy options it means that humans should play more, which is well quantified as exercise and eating the right things (Innes, 2009, pg. 36). The other option is early diagnosing of the situation. The rule is simple, when we are able to know of a condition early enough, treatment will start early at infancy then it becomes simpler to control, this will then be a multiplier effect and goes to reduce the deaths associated with the condition by up to a half of the original deaths. Hence much attention always needs to be accorded to the diagnosis and the treatment which then boils down to accessibility of the same. It would be nice to note that most people in UK who harbor at care homes have this conditions, statistics show that almost a shockingly over 80% have the condition. Yet interestingly this only represents a proportion of 1/3 because the rest live among the communities. Of these people with dementia who live in the community they are normally taken care of by the family cares who do a good job saving the government of the UK close to over 8 billion Euros in one year (Keady, 2007, pg. 48). With that data in mind and information let me now dwell into the reason behind the formulation of this report titled dementia and ethnicity. It`s worth noting that there huge difference between the blacks and minority groups compared with the whites in the UK. Most whites are able to access care while the rest struggle. In this report we devour the relationship between ethnicity and dementia in detail. I will look into what the other researchers have found out on this and what is the truth on the matter. LITERATURE REVIEW Dementia is more associated with age than youth. Most of those humans who develop it are old people. It is also a fact that the spread is more among women than men and also it should be noted that it is unpreventable or it might be just that the current science is still on the process of developing a remedy. Specific type of ethics does not develop the condition more than other groups. Let’s take the example of the people we will call BME, this means black minority ethnics. They are people who have moved into the UK from the other continents. The condition does not affect the new comers more than it affects the original Caucasians. Studies support that argument, your tribe or ethnic group does not determine whether you develop dementia or does not (Moore, 2010, pg. 67). Although ethnicity and dementia spread does not relate, there is a factor that relates, and that is accessibility of care and treatment with ethnic groups. Whites and blacks in terms of care accessibility are not the same, whites are able to associate themselves with better access and treatment compared with either Asians, blacks or the Chinese for example (Cayton, 2002, pg. 84 ). As people move from one continent to the next, they come baring among everything else their native behaviors and cultures. You find that people use their original language to converse and they learn the adopted countries language later and yet they still tend not to forget their traditions. What was a taboo does not cease to be, what is culturally unacceptable still remains as such. It is this kinds of people who present a challenge in containing and better management of dementia. Every ethnic group has their own view concerning dementia that does not correspond to the English natives. The report notes that BMEs are not timely in terms of care accessibility. They get hold of this services late, white counter parts get hold of this services early enough. Like earlier proven, dementia is universal like most diseases but there are different kinds of the same condition. One particular type is the vascular dementia. This one is mostly found among the blacks of Caribbean origin and some Asians than the rest (Waite, 2009, pg. 75). Currently we are talking of over 15000 BMEs suffering from the condition. Most of them are old, actually we are talking of people who have a significant age. The current patients are people who had come to the United Kingdom in the years between 1950s and 1980s, they had come to the United Kingdom with the purpose of working but now age has caught up with them and they now suffer the same conditions as the locals (Innes, 2009, pg. 86). The percentage of females with the ailment is higher than the males, but of note is that among the BMEs the males are higher in percentage than the females. This is because that time the number of males who had gotten into the UK was higher than the females. Males migrants tend to look for work more than the females hence the percentage of aged BME males gets higher with time. The percentage of this BMEs has increased in population basically due to birth reasons and more migrants coming in. Of the 15000 we are talking us having dementia, this is just a tiny percentage compared to the bigger picture. Majority of the people are unaware that they have such an alien condition. The old people among the BMEs were never born in the UK. They are people who just came into the country (Wilkinson, 2002, pg. 181). They have not forgotten their own traditions and cultures and what they believe. Most of the BMEs do not know about a condition known us dementia or if they have, it is a touchy subject that could not attract enough attention among this people. The following are the reasons why the BMEs do not have access to care and medical service compared to the native whites: I. Lack of knowledge II. Beliefs and taboos III. Stigma IV. Ignorance. Most of them do not know of a condition known as dementia. As part of culture, the people came from communities that viewed some things in a very unscientific manner. Therefore when an old person is frail and is losing memory most of the BMEs take this as case of normal old age characteristics. When that happens the relatives are not always aware of any help available. At one point the condition gets so much strong such that they cannot handle it and decide to seek a hospitals help, it’s needless to say that at such a stage, it is normally very late (Waite, 2009, pg. 49). Some cultures among the BMEs do not even have descriptions of the conditions in such situations how then can they know about dementia. This is the question most of researchers conclude while ask at the same time. There is also the aspect of beliefs or stigma among this people. Some BME cultures view dementia as a punishment from a force that is higher than them, therefore people with dementia are always left alone to cope with their curse. Among the current dementia patients although they had earlier developed their English oration medium as dementia comes in, the language that was learned upon migration begins to disappear, hence it becomes very difficult for service givers to offer the right service (Cayton, 2002, pg. 101). GOVERNMENT POLICY The UK government knows very well about the problems and magnitude of dementia. Money has been spent in copious amounts. The budget for dementia might go higher, but the government knows that early knowledge on the condition, brings on board the family and health analysts who assist in lowering the budget further down. To tackle the case with BMEs the government needs to develop policies deliberately in order to avoid the sky rocketing of costs involved in dementia among this minorities. The following are the policies that have been formulated by the government-: 1. Requirement that old people above 65 years be checked for dementia. 2. Manufacturing of toolkits to diagnose dementia. 3. Dementia education among the minorities 4. Requirement that hospitals adopt dementia friendly environment. 5. Advocacy of anti-racism environment among the carers and health experts. 6. Training of most carers to adopt to BMEs cultural beliefs and sensitivity to ethnicity. The above policies started being implemented from the year 2012 to date. CONCLUSION I found out that government does not have special treatment among the whites at the expense of the BMEs. The government is treating disease as a serious case and an expense avenue on the budget. However, a coordinated effort needs to be within the government and there should be a deliberate intention to reach out to the minorities. They need awareness and they need to be treated. To do this the population must be assured that it is not a taboo to have dementia nor is it a case of curses. I have found out that the world is now more aware of the condition even the migrants who are currently sometimes accessing the country have minor knowledge on the same if not extensively. Even better, currently the people coming into the country are accessing it in order to do business, as students or to do work in jobs requiring a certain level of grades and education. But currently I propose the following measures to be undertaken-: I. Teach the minorities using the right format and language. II. Distribute worthy leaflets on the same III. Making of DVDs, roadshows and spreading the same in churches. IV. Public screenings to be widely undertaken and openly to create an easy mood. List of references BHUGRA, D., & BAHL, V. (1999). Ethnicity: An agenda for mental health. London, Gaskell. CAYTON, H., GRAHAM, N., & WARNER, J. (2002). Dementia: Alzheimers and other dementias. London, Class Pub. CURRAN, S. (2004). Practical management of dementia: a multiprofessional approach. Oxford, Radcliffe Medical Press. CURRAN, S. (2004). Practical management of dementia: a multiprofessional approach. Oxford, Radcliffe Medical Press. DOWNS, M., & BOWERS, B. J. (2008). Excellence in dementia care: research into practice. Maidenhead, Open University Press. INNES, A. (2009). Dementia Studies a Social Science Perspective. London, Sage Publications. KEADY, J., CLARKE, C. L., & ADAMS, T. (2007). Community Mental Health Nursing And Dementia Care. Maidenhead, McGraw-Hill International (UK) Ltd.. MOORE, D. (2010). Explaining Alzheimers and dementia. Brighton, Emerald. PATEL, N. (1998). Dementia and minority ethnic older people: managing care in the UK, Denmark and France. Lyme Regis, Russel House Pub. WAITE, J. (2009). Dementia care: a practical manual. Oxford, Oxford University Press. WILKINSON, H. (2002). The perspectives of people with dementia: research methods and motivations. London, Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Read More