An interesting read…
Muslims wearing burkas at risk from rickets Jul 30 2006
PREGNANT Midland women who regularly wear burkas are being targeted by health chiefs trying to halt a rise in rickets.
The Victorian disease, caused by lack of exposure to the sun - resulting in vitamin D deficiency - has returned to Birmingham.
Shockingly, 65 city children have needed hospital treatment for rickets, or related hypocalcaemic fits, in the past three years.
And health bosses fear this may be the tip of the iceberg with more cases of the illness, which affects bone development, not being formally diagnosed.
Now they have invested £150,000 to fight the rise of rickets among infants in inner city Birmingham.
The disease was prevalent in Britain during Victorian times when sunlight was rare in smog-filled industrial cities.
Better nutrition and improved health led experts to believe that it had died out in the 1980s.
But the tradition of Muslim women wearing burkas is thought to have contributed to its recent resurgence.
A spokesman for the Heart of Birmingham Primary Care Trust, which is heading the campaign, said: "Anecdotal evidence suggests that mothers and babies from some minority ethnic communities may be more affected.
"This is because women traditionally do not expose their skin to sunlight.
"However, Vitamin D deficiency can also be due to confinement in the home for medical or other reasons, diet, mal-absorption syndromes and liver or kidney disease.
"Deficiency is easily counteracted with Vitamin D supplements.
“A Stop Rickets campaign ran in the 1980s, funded by the Department of Health, and was predominantly targeted at South Asian communities, due to contemporary evidence that they were disproportionately affected by the condition.”
Areas targeted by the new campaign include Sparkhill, Handsworth, Winson Green, Sparkbrook and Ladywood.
As well as health staff, community workers will help to inform parents about the illness by visiting community centres and mosques. The spokesman said most of the cash would be spent on providing children with Vitamin D supplements.
He added: "Our approach engages a range of workers in the health sector such as health visitors, midwives and GPs.
"NHS messages are supported by children’s workers in many parts of Birmingham, as well as trained volunteers connected to community centres and places of worship.
"The campaign will cost up to £150,000 in the first year.
"Most of this is the cost of the supplements themselves, which will be provided for children aged up to 12 months.
"Some 5,000 babies are born in the area each year. Vitamin D supplements for these children would cost around £40,000.
"The second phase of the campaign will invite pregnant women to take up Vitamin D supplements during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy and while breastfeeding.
"Inevitably, for a large universal campaign, there are also some set-up costs such as training and patient information materials.
“These will allow pregnant women and new mothers, supported by appropriately trained workers, to make an informed decision about whether or not they wish to take up the Vitamin D supplements.”
Dr Jacky Chambers, director of public health at Heart of Birmingham, added: "Women who cover up for cultural reasons may be at higher risk of Vitamin D deficiency. In addition to taking Vitamin D supplements, we are urging mothers to help themselves to get some sunlight.
"They should make sure they are exposed to the sun, without burning, for a short time each day.
"This can be while you are walking to the shops, or taking the children to school.
“If you don’t expose your face and arms in public, try to sit outside in a private place, like a balcony or back garden, for a short time each day.”
Source: http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/sundaymercury/news/tm_objectid=17477420%26method=full%
, go search for it first…