The Bangladeshi population is one of the fastest growing ethnic groups within the UK, and are amongst the most socially disadvantaged. A grant of over £500,000 hopes to reduce existing health inequalities and promote healthy, active ageing among Bangladeshi women.
The three-year Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) New Dynamics of Ageing (NDA) project entitled, 'Migration, nutrition and ageing across the life course in Bangladeshi families' (MINA) will address these issues across two generations of Bangladeshi women. The project will be led by Professor Janice Thompson at the University of Bristol.
The Bangladeshi population have poorer self-reported and measured health status indicated by higher rates of disability, obesity and chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Older Bangladeshi women are particularly affected as they play a lead role in caretaking for multiple generations within relatively large extended families and many struggle to cope with the complex challenges of ageing, poverty, racism, and social exclusion.
The aim of the project is to develop processes and products to reduce existing health inequalities and promote healthy, active ageing among Bangladeshi women by gaining a better understanding of the impact of migration on nutritional status, food practices and beliefs, and experiences and perceptions of ageing amongst this group.
Janice Thompson, Professor of Public Health Nutrition and Head of the Department of Exercise, Nutrition and Health Sciences, said: "As in the general population, nutrition plays a crucial role in the health status of the Bangladeshi population. Despite this there is no clear understanding of how eating patterns and migration affects this group's nutritional status and experiences of ageing. Without this information we cannot develop effective culturally tailored interventions.
"MINA will address these gaps by combining approaches, methods, and expertise not used in previous research to gain an in-depth understanding of Bangladeshi women's nutritional status, food practices, beliefs and experiences of ageing in the UK and Bangladesh."
The project will draw upon existing UK national survey data to improve the understanding of mechanisms underlying well-documented health inequalities experienced by Bangladeshi women with a focus on nutrition-related behaviours and conditions.