A pioneering new initiative, led by the Bishop of London, Sarah Mullally, is bringing together leaders from across London’s faith communities to discuss the city’s health inequalities and explore how faith groups can and do contribute to community health.
The Health Inequalities Action Group (HIAG), which brings together the Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish and Sikh communities across London, met at St John’s Hoxton church for a ‘Town Hall’ event, the first in a programme of activity that will culminate in a series of policy recommendations for improving health outcomes in the Capital within the next year.
The attendees spoke of the difficulties accessing healthcare in their communities and shared experiences from the COVID-19 pandemic of faith communities stepping up to offer support where state provisions could not. Attendees agreed that with communities stepping up, there was a responsibility to “upskill” religious leaders and train them in tackling health inequalities, with places of worship possibly becoming a “one stop shop” for people to access spiritual, physical and mental support.
The session featured a keynote speech from Dr Joan Myers OBE, a trustee of the Florence Nightingale Foundation, who spoke of the lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, where people stepped out of “siloes” and showed extraordinary partnership and resilience. She referenced the incredible work of the Parish Nursing Ministries, which help support local churches and Christian organisations to support people and communities to maintain their health and wellbeing.
The HIAG has been founded with the belief that the value of faith groups as a community asset is not fully appreciated in public discourse, and from an agreement between London’s faith leaders that collective action is needed to realise the potential of faith communities in improving health outcomes in the Capital.
The event will be followed by a second Town Hall at East London Mosque on March 28th, where further testimony will be heard and evidence gathered about how inequalities in London impact health outcomes. The HIAG will then identify a series of policy recommendations, which will be published and presented to government.
The Bishop of London, The Rt Revd and Rt Hon Dame Sarah Mullally, said:
“Health inequalities across our city have never been more apparent than in the aftermath of the Coronavirus pandemic, but these deep-seated structural imbalances long predated 2020. Faith groups have a valuable role to play in addressing these inequalities and communicating important health messages. I’ve seen firsthand the transformative power that trusted leaders can have in translating health messages to their communities to their communities, from vaccine hesitancy to mental health and wellbeing. The Town Hall really emphasised to me the importance of active collaboration between faith groups, and I hope that the Action Group will be able to inform policymakers, faith leaders and clinicians with practical steps that can be taken to address the health inequalities that have pervaded society for too long.”
Sheikh Mohammed Mahmoud OBE, Imam of East London Mosque, commented:
“It was warming to see such distinguished leaders from across the London’s religious circles come together to discuss this issue. Across all places of worship, including my own, faith leaders have a really important and influential job to play in tackling the pervasive health inequalities that we see today.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
The Bishop of London’s Health Inequalities Action Group brings together parliamentarians, interfaith
leaders, health specialists and civil society leaders to:
- discuss how inequalities in London impact health outcomes
- identify actions in response
- explore and develop discourse on faith groups’ relevance to community health
- advocate the roles of faith groups in improving health
The group membership is as follows:
- Dr Calvin Moorley – Senior Lecturer and Practitioner
- Jo Bibby – Director of Health at The Health Foundation
- Lord Bishop of London DBE – Chair of Church of England’s COVID Recovery Group and former Chief Nursing Officer in the Department of Health
- Pastor Verona Crossfield – Senior Pastor at Freedom Worship Centre
- Dr Deesha Chadha OBE – Co Chair of Faiths Forum for London and Senior Lecturer at Imperial College London
- Sheikh Mohammed Mahmoud OBE – Imam of East London Mosque
- Leonie Lewis MBE – Vice Chair of the Faiths forum for London, Vice President of the United Synagogue
- Rita Chadha – Director of the City Sikhs
- Baroness Tyler of Enfield
For more information, please contact the Diocese of London media team on dioceseoflondon@luther.co.uk.
To register to attend the second Town Hall session on March 28, please reserve your space here