The BLACHIR review

What is BLACHIR?

The Birmingham and Lewisham African and Caribbean Health Inequalities Review (BLACHIR) was created as a partnership between Lewisham Council and Birmingham City Council. Both Public Health divisions shared a joint goal to address health inequalities within Black African and Black Caribbean communities.

This resulted in a collaboration between the two local authorities between 2020 and 2022 to share knowledge and resources through a review process.

Focusing on different ethnic groups and communities separately has enabled a more detailed and culturally sensitive approach to the Review. This began with Black African and Black Caribbean communities.

Developing the review

The review was developed in collaboration with a variety of external partners, including:

External Academic Board: fifteen academics were appointed based on their research interest in Black African and Black Caribbean health inequalities.
External Advisory Board: consisted of five voluntary members from Lewisham and four voluntary members from Birmingham who were actively involved in their communities and lived in the local areas.
Public Engagement Activities: included four online surveys using the Be Heard and Survey Monkey platforms, six focus groups, five individual interviews and five online community engagement events.

The board of academics discussed the results from the literature and the evidence review to identify gaps, key issues and opportunities for action. The community advisory board and public engagement events provided an ‘expert by experience’ perspective.