M.E.H.A Project, U.K

Concept:

The native language is an essential source of information and an effective medium of communication.
An individual naturally feels more comfortable in his / her mother tongue. The need for mother tongue teaching and bilingual workers has always been emphasised in the UK since the influx of the immigrants from the South Asian & Middle East countries in the late 60`s.

These people worked with devotion and enthusiasm and contributed towards the development of a modern & prosperous society in the UK. Having a very little command in English, they could not benefit fully from services provided by the health professionals and the managers. They tend to suffer in silence due to lack of health education and health awareness in general.

We believe that every individual has the equal right of information and access to the health services. We are committed to provide latest health information in a simple, concise and easily available book format with no medical jargons. We are committed to publish bilingual volumes: English / Urdu, English / Hindi, English / Gujarati, English / Bengali, English / Punjabi, English / Arabic and so on.

People who are unable to read their native language may benefit from our topical audio and video cassettes & CD-ROMS. For healthcare professionals, we plan to design interactive bi-lingual
web sites for better understanding and communication between patients and health professionals.

The young generation of the minority communities prefers to read information in English and share this information with the elders in their respective mother tongue. Therefore, our bilingual books, CDs and audio-visual aids have significant potential to reduce health inequalities in the minority ethnic communities of the U.K.

A key to our success

Our recent publications, `Modern Preventive Medicine` in English and `Solution to common health issues` in Urdu (4th Edition) and a recent bilingual edition, `Prevention is always better than cure` are proving to be useful health guides for the general public in the UK. We tend to distribute our publications to the public libraries, hospital libraries, community centres, walk-in centres, A & E outlets and G.P surgeries in the U.K. We aim to reduce patient visits to the GP surgeries for minor illnesses and cut down the number of unnecessary hospital admissions and hence reduce the NHS burden. Recently, we launched a general healthcare help / information line for the benefit of Urdu & Punjabi speaking people in the U.K.

Our distinction:

We do appreciate the positive role of mother tongue teachers, bilingual workers and health providers in educating and raising the health awareness in the minority communities. But our unique team consists of native speakers, writers, translators, editors and composers who are all qualified people, working under the supervision of NHS consultants and senior general practitioners in the U.K. We regularly organise topical health awareness seminars & radio talks, involving bilingual health professionals and community members. This project enjoys ethical support from the leading physicians of the U.K and the Department of Health.

Project Co-ordinator: Dr Syed Abbas- Abidi, Fellow of Manchester Medical Society, University of Manchester.

Subjects:

Common Disorders (Diabetes, Hypertension, Angina, Heart disorders, Hepatitis, Strokes, Asthma etc.

Mental Health (Depression, Alzheimer's Disease, Dementia, Drug addiction & Alcoholism etc.)

Child Health (Meningitis, Measles, Mumps, Rubella, Polio, Cystic Fibrosis, Thalassaemia etc.)

Women's Health (Contraception, Osteoporosis, Cervical screening, Breast screening & Menopause etc.)

For further information, please contact Dr Abbas- Abidi on 0161 721 4109 or 07752 983 104 (mobile)

E-mail: sabidi2217@aol.com

Web: http://www.abidihealth.co.uk