The primary aim of this project is to prevent COVID-related illness in ethnic minority communities by increasing awareness of appropriate social distancing measures, improving communication skills among GPs and local councils, and enhancing trust in locally communicated health messages. To this end, this project is producing a series of videos on social distancing measures in three minority languages, namely Sylheti, Pashto and Pahari, and guidelines for English-speaking GPs and council workers on how to communicate with ethnic minority patients who are hard to reach due to reliance on oral information in their dominant language. We will promote the videos and guidelines by building extensive UK-wide networks of community organisations, local media, local politicians, and local GPs.

The main objective of this impact project is to prevent COVID-related illness in ethnic minority communities with a strong oral tradition in the coming months as social distancing measures are relaxed and tightened in the UK. To this end, we will create and implement communication materials (i.e. videos) to increase awareness of COVID-19 social distancing measures and when they are appropriate, thereby actively seeking to improve compliancy rates. By collaborating closely with our targeted communities – local organisations, politicians, and media – we will boost social learning and enhance individual and community agency. To enhance trust in GPs and locally communicated health messages, we will develop and promote guidelines aimed as English-speaking GPs and local council workers so as to improve their awareness of linguistic and cultural barriers.

This 5-month project commenced on 01 September. Video scripts were finalised in October and videos will start to be promoted in November. The final guidelines will be released late December. We will work continuously with our networks and provide tailored advice as the need arises.