ISLAMABAD – The district administration on Sunday opened the spillways of Rawal Dam after continuous rains raised the reservoir’s water level to 1,748 feet. According to the spokesman of ICT administration, this was only four feet below the dam’s maximum storage capacity of 1,752 feet, prompting the need to release water to prevent overflow risks.
Officials confirmed that after discharging water for around six and a half hours, the water level in the dam dropped to 1,746 feet. The spillways were then closed as the situation stabilized. The decision to open the spillways was taken in coordination with various departments, including the district administration, Rescue 1122, and the Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA). These teams were deployed at key locations, including bridges, streams, and vulnerable points downstream, to manage the flow of released water and ensure public safety.
Assistant Commissioner of Nilore monitored the entire water release process, supervising operations at the dam and overseeing the safety measures on the ground. Magistrates, Rescue 1122 teams, ambulances, and union council staff remained stationed on different bridges and near the banks of streams throughout the water discharge period. The administration also remained in contact with the Pakistan Meteorological Department to track rainfall patterns and assess further risks. According to officials, the dam’s spillways are only opened when the reservoir nears its storage limit to manage water pressure and avoid possible damage to the dam structure.
Authorities assured that despite the heavy rains, no major flooding or emergency was reported downstream due to timely coordination and monitoring. However, residents living near water channels were advised to stay alert for any updates from the district administration in case of further rain. The Rawal Dam not only supplies water to Islamabad and Rawalpindi but also plays a critical role in managing seasonal rains. The management of the dam, along with weather monitoring, is part of the broader effort to mitigate risks of urban flooding in the twin cities during the monsoon season.
The district administration said it will continue to monitor the situation closely and take preventive measures in line with future weather forecasts. The public has been asked to cooperate with authorities and follow safety instructions to avoid any untoward incident. Earlier in the day, the Meteorological Department had forecast more rain in the region, raising concerns over the rising water levels in dams and rivers. The administration, however, reassured that all precautionary steps are in place to tackle the impact of continued rainfall.
The spillway of Rawal Dam will reopen on Monday, tomorrow at 6:00 AM for around five hours to boost reservoir capacity ahead of forecast rainfall in the upper catchment area, NDMA spokesman said.
The NDMA spokesman urged the public to steer clear of all waterfront zones, including riverbanks and water channels, due to heightened safety risks. Travel in low-lying areas should be limited to essential needs during the operation window. Fishing and boating have been strictly prohibited throughout the spillway release period. He advised the citizens to remain in contact with local administration for real-time updates.
Emphasizing emergency preparedness, NDMA instructed residents to follow official advisories without delay and urged relocation of valuables and livestock to safer locations to mitigate potential flood damage.
Kampala, Uganda — Uganda said Thursday that it would use 200,000 doses of the Hepatitis B vaccine donated by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to immunize newborns.
Rose Akuno, Hepatitis program coordinator at the Ministry of Health, told Xinhua by telephone that the vaccination campaign, scheduled for August, aims to prevent and control new Hepatitis B infections among newborns in the East African country.
According to ministry data, about 2.7 million adults and 230,000 children — roughly 6 percent of Uganda’s population — remain critically infected with the virus.
Akuno said that all newborns, whether born in health facilities or at home, should be vaccinated within the first 24 hours of birth. “The mothers should ensure the newborns receive this vaccine to prevent and protect them from Hepatitis B,” she said.
The donation from Gavi is expected to arrive in the country later this month or early next month, according to the Health Ministry.
Akuno said that Uganda faces significant funding challenges in the fight against Hepatitis B, with only three million U.S. dollars allocated to the program.
In 2022, an estimated 1,250 Ugandans died of the disease, according to the World Health Organization.
Hepatitis B can cause chronic infection and puts people at high risk of death from cirrhosis and liver cancer, according to the Ministry of Health. It spreads through contact with the blood or other body fluids of an infected person. ∎
Light reflecting from satellites can be seen from Earth
Scientists are testing a black paint they hope will stop the night sky turning in to a “motorway of satellites”.
Noelia Noel, an astrophysicist at the University of Surrey, is working with a team carrying out tests on Vantablack 310, a black paint developed by Surrey NanoSystems which can be applied to satellites.
She said light reflecting from the devices was obstructing astronomical ground-based telescopes and “ruining” images for research, including at the Vera C Rubin observatory in Chile.
“What I am proposing is to minimise the impact, to make space more sustainable, to mitigate the light pollution from these satellites,” Dr Noel told BBC Surrey.
Emily Coady-Stemp/BBC
Noelia Noel (left) and Astha Chaturvedi with a model of the satellite planned for launch in 2026
“This is about cultural heritage,” she said. “Imagine you go to a museum and you see a Van Gogh or a lovely Rembrandt and someone comes and scribbles on it with a highlighter.
“We are doing graffiti on a masterpiece.”
The number of satellites in the low earth orbit is increasing exponentially, Dr Noel says, adding that they play important roles, including providing GPS and helping us understand and monitor climate change.
A UK Space Agency spokesperson said there were about 12,000 satellites in Earth’s orbit, with the number expected to rise to 60,000 by 2030 – some experts predict even larger numbers.
For example, Starlink, a SpaceX subsidiary, uses a growing network of satellites to connect remote areas to fast internet, with previous UK figures showing it could deliver internet speeds four times faster than the average.
Astha Chaturvedi, a 25-year-old PhD student who is testing Vantablack 310, said: “It would be really great if Starlink could use this paint.
“Not only to protect our skies but also give a message to other satellite operators and encourage them to paint their satellites black.”
SpaceX did not send a statement in relation to a request from the BBC but did point to previous work done with astronomers to protect the night sky.
Earlier dark coatings on satellites had led to thermal issues and some electronic components overheating.
In 2020 SpaceX said in a public update that it was “committed to making future satellite designs as dark as possible”.
University of Surrey
Vantablack 310 was developed by Surrey NanoSystems
Ms Chaturvedi compared the satellites to causing “fingerprints” on the “window to the universe”.
“The cosmos is humanity’s window to the universe, poets have been inspired by it, it has inspired a lot of discussions that have led to the technologies which make our life easier right now,” she said.
Vantablack 310 will be trialled on Jovian 1, a shoebox-sized satellite due to launch in 2026.
Meredith Rawls, a research scientist at Vera Rubin, said “many complementary mitigation strategies” were necessary to reduce the impact of satellite streaks on images captured by the telescope.
She said while a substantial fraction of Rubin’s images would have a satellite streak, most were not “ruinous”, adding: “Despite the increase in satellite streaks, Rubin will still do amazing science.”
Ongoing work includes developing tools to help identify satellites, avoiding the brightest satellites and tools to help scientists understand when contamination was likely.
“The specific science impacts depend strongly on the satellite population, which is impossible to predict,” she said.
“However, they will certainly be a nuisance we need to mitigate – akin to ‘bugs on the windshield’.”
A spokesperson for the UK Space Agency said it promotes the sustainable use of space through a wide range of initiatives.
“We collaborate to develop standards, regulations, norms of behaviour, agreements and best practices that influence and define the in-orbit regime of the future across the globe,” they added.
It’s 8pm when DJ Lag steps up to the booth for his sound check at Open Ground, a dance venue in western Germany. It has been described as the “best-sounding new club in the world”, and when the first track plays you can hear why.
Rotund bass lines roll across the acoustically treated room, propelled by an extraordinarily powerful, horn-loaded bass enclosure named the Funktion-One F132. High-pitched melodies and intricate textures develop with startling clarity. And as for the call-and-response ad-libs – they sound as if the vocalists are standing only metres away.
Open Ground certainly knows how to make a great first impression. “I remember the moment exactly,” recalls Eddy Toca, AKA Piccell. The Angola-born DJ, who is now based in Dortmund, is here to play alongside DJ Lag and the rest of Barulho World, his afro-electronic collective. “It was a flash. It was a bang. We couldn’t compare it to any other place we’ve ever played. It’s like a dream.”
Open Ground is located in Wuppertal, just outside the Ruhr valley, a location known predominantly for its 125-year-old suspended monorail and as the home of the late Pina Bausch’s famous dance theatre. It’s a five-hour train ride from Berlin, a city that has often stolen the electronic music spotlight from the rest of Germany due to its mythologised hedonism and notoriously selective scene, credited to clubs such as Berghain. Yet since opening in December 2023, Open Ground has become a pilgrimage site for nightlife enthusiasts and DJs from all over the world.British musician Floating Points has called it“probably the greatest-sounding club in the EU.” Drum’n’bass DJ Mantra said: “It can almost bring you to tears.”
‘It’s like a dream’ … Open Ground. Photograph: Open Ground
There are more than eight decades of embodied music knowledge between Open Ground’s two founders, Markus Riedel and Mark Ernestus. Prior to the club, Riedel worked for 20 years at the esteemed Berlin-based record label Hard Wax, which was founded in 1989 by Ernestus, who is known for his pioneering work in dub techno with Basic Channel and Rhythm & Sound. In 2008, Riedel relocated with his family back to his native Wuppertal to take a position at his brother’s company, a global communications firm that lists Formula One, the Fifa World Cup, Eurovision, and the Olympics as its clients.
Eight years later, the city approached the Riedel brothers with an idea to convert a decommissioned second world war bunker near the train station into a nightclub as part of its urban renewal efforts, though the project itself has received no cultural funding. Entirely financed by Riedel’s brother Thomas, the renovation took seven years and involved big recalibrations: they had to consolidate several smaller rooms, saw out the concrete ceiling, and account for an unexpected water reservoir space that now serves as the ventilation room and the smaller “Annex” dancefloor. The team even changed the air-conditioning system to accommodate for the ideal positioning of the sound design.
Riedel, Ernestus and Open Ground’s music curator Arthur Rieger take me on a tour before its opening hours. Stepping inside the space, divorced from the usual chatter of patrons, there is an immediate, monastic hush that envelops the entire club. The acoustician, Willsingh Wilson of Wax Acoustics, installed wall-to-wall grey fibre panelling throughout the entire space (rather than only in the music areas, as is the case with most clubs). This patented material absorbs disruptive sonic reflections, providing a prime container to exalt the Funktion-One and its full spectrum range, from high-pitched bird chirps of 20 kilohertz to low, vibrating frequencies that stoop to 24 hertz. Open Ground is also one of the rare indoor installations of the potent F132 subwoofers.
‘Club owners would rather spend €50,000 on an amazing LED installation than the same amount on acoustic treatment’ … Mark Ernestus. Photograph: Chris Parkinson
Ernestus does not consider great sound a luxury, but an imperative. “When humans were hunters and gatherers, our ears were our alarm system,” he says. “The ears are one of the first organs that develop in the embryo and are hardwired to the parts of the brain that process stress. Even 50 decibels, which is a quiet room with a fridge, for example, can be damaging in the long run. It increases your risk of cardiovascular disease. Basically, there’s almost no healthy noise.”
Prolonged exposure to poor-audio quality and inadequate acoustic treatment in particular is an occupational health hazard. The human nervous system perceives distorted, harsh or poorly balanced sound as a low-level threat, triggering a cascade of physiological stress responses that can manifest as increased cortisol production, muscle tension, cognitive fatigue and sleep disruption. Compounded long term, this can lead to an increased risk of heart disease and metabolic disorders, such as type 2 diabetes.
The brain also compensates for the dissonant auditory input with headaches and eye strain. Yet paradoxically, poor audio quality will often cause DJs to increase the volume of the monitors to compensate, only to further aggravate the body. This is why, in its most extreme forms, sound has been used by military forces as psychological sonic warfare to induce anxiety attacks, ear pain and hypertension.
‘The ears are hardwired to the parts of the brain that process stress’ … inside the club. Photograph: Jonas Mokosch
Ernestus has had tinnitus since the age of 18, so he is intimately aware of music’s physical toll. “Normally if I am in a club for most of the night – tinnitus aside – I can feel just how knackered I am the next day from the stress level. Here, I sleep only an hour longer maybe, but I feel fit.”
If acoustic investment is so vital, why is it systematically undervalued? According to Ernestus, the barrier isn’t necessarily financial, but a matter of misplaced priorities. “We take in about 90% of sensory information through our eyes, and I think it is because of that that the visuals are always overrated,” he said. “Club owners who I know would typically rather spend €50,000 on an amazing LED installation than the same amount on acoustic treatment.”
At Open Ground, there also appears to be a commitment towards artist welfare that can only be intuited by people who have spent a greater part of their lifetime at raves. Backstage, artists have private showers to freshen up after long, irregular hours on the road. There’s a bathroom adjacent to the booth for DJs pulling night-long shifts. Before the show, artists gather backstage for a catered vegetarian dinner because healthy meals are hard to come by on tour. “A lot of the planning came from our own experience. If you give an artist or DJ ideal working conditions, it translates into a good performance,” Riedel says.
Clubbers queue to get in. Photograph: Open Ground
Optimising for every detail ultimately benefits audiences, too, in subtle ways that the casual clubgoer may fail to notice. Annex and the main dancefloor Freifeld are strategically designed and lit for individuals to dance comfortably on a sparse floor. In the indoor sitting area, there are small monitors playing out the set from Freifeld in real time, so clubbers can rest while still engaging with the music. Throughout, no one needs to raise their voices to converse with one another.
Returning to the dancefloor after my tour, I watch a twentysomething woman in the front row flail her entire body to and fro, losing herself in a wild, interpretive dance. The night is still young and the main floor still semi-empty, but she moves as unselfconsciously as though it is peak time. Gazing at her, I think back to what Markus’s wife, Christine, told to me earlier in the night: “The sound is so good, you don’t need drugs.”
Twitter logo of Asian Hockey Federation. Pakistan Hockey Federation has written to FIH and AHF expressing their reservations over sending hockey team to India for the Asia Cup.
The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has informed the sport’s global governing body FIH that it will be “difficult” for them to send a team to India for the Asia Cup next month because of “security concerns”.
Tariq Bugti, who heads the PHF, said they had written to the FIH and Asian Hockey Federation (AHF), expressing their reservations over sending the team to India.
“We have informed them that in the existing scenario, our team will face security risks playing in India,” he said.
“We have informed them our players are also not keen to travel to India for the Asia Cup which is also a direct qualifying tournament,” he added.
The PHF chief said the ball is now in the court of the FIH and AHF to decide about the event and Pakistan’s matches.
“We have asked them to let us know what guarantee is there that our players will be safe in India and will be able to focus on the tournament,” he said.
The Pakistan government is yet to come out with an official statement on the issue but recently a senior government official said the team would not travel to India.
Developed and published by Aspyr, Dungeons & Dragons Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition will send players off to Faerûn with a very unlucky possession — the very thing that the darkness ravaging the land is looking for. But will they be strong enough to fight the temptation and save the land?
This remake brings the classic RPG to consoles for the very first time, but there’s also great news for PC gamers: it adds a ton of improvements and new features to look forward to!
So, what can you expect from Dungeons & Dragons Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition?
Gather up friends and assemble a party.
Thanks to crossplay, players can enjoy the game with loved ones in any platform.
Set off on an adventure by the Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 ruleset.
Over 100 hours of gameplay.
Four unique campaigns.
Become a Dungeon Master by creating your own campaign, solo or multiplayer, and share it with others.
Play others’ Dungeon Masters campaigns through Steam Workshop.
Smoother gameplay: refined camera controls, updated mechanics, enhanced visuals, and full controller support (with its own UI).
Includes all the expansions: Mask of the Betrayer, Storm of Zehir, and Mysteries of Westgate.
Watch the launch trailer for a closer look! Dungeons & Dragons Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition is available now on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam and GOG.
The Britton Court Solar project has been given the go-ahead by Canterbury City Council
Plans to build a solar farm the size of 78 football pitches on the edge of a village in Kent have been approved.
Energy company Renewable Connections has been given permission by Canterbury City Council (CCC) to build a solar facility, alongside a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS).
Covering 56 hectares of land, the Britton Court Solar project near Tyler Hill will supply renewable energy to up to 15,000 homes, reported the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
Some residents have told BBC South East they think solar panels might tarnish the character of the area.
Once complete, the array will have an output of up to 38 megawatts (MW), equivalent to the “annual energy needs of up to 15,164 homes,” the developers said.
The BESS would be able to store up to 30MW of solar energy to be deployed into the grid when needed.
BBC / Phil Harrison
Resident June believes the solar farm could jeopardise the character of Tyler Hill
Julie Hill, who lives in Canterbury, said she was broadly in favour of renewable energy but not on farmland.
She said: “It’s not right to use farmland for solar panels, they should first be on the roofs of all public buildings like hospitals and schools.
“We need to be more forward-thinking for the next generation.”
Another local, June, said the character of the area would be destroyed if the solar farm building work goes ahead.
“There’s already lots of new homes being built locally. We moved out to the countryside for a quieter life and it seems we may now be losing it,” she said.
Michael Hughes, chief executive officer at Renewable Connections, said: “Once operational, the project will help to tackle the climate emergency in Kent, supplying renewable energy to up to 15,000 homes.
“The site itself will see a biodiversity uplift of over one hundred percent as a result of implementing a package of landscape, ecological, and biodiversity benefits.”
The first year of ethnicity data reporting for childhood vaccines shows disparities between ethnic groups
Last year data on childhood vaccines was broken down by ethnicity for the first time.
It showed a wide variation in uptake across ethnic minority groups and Public Health Scotland called for more work to understand what is going on.
In some areas there is concerns that ethnic minority groups are falling behind the rest of the population when it comes to vaccines.
For instance, the figures showed that almost a quarter of children of African descent in Scotland had not had their second dose of MMR by the age of five.
Uptake was also low for children of Caribbean or Black heritage.
Measles cases have been increasing across Scotland and experts fear children are missing out on full protection against the potentially deadly disease by not getting their second dose.
Lower uptake of vaccines in minority ethnic groups isn’t just seen in childhood immunisations.
Experts say Covid-19, flu and Human Papillomavirus (HPV) show similar trends.
So, why are ethnic minority groups often more hesitant when it comes to vaccination?
What do the stats show?
The BBC has analysed uptake rates across a range of vaccinations and across ethnic groups.
For MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella) across Scotland as a whole, the number of children getting the first dose by the age of two is just below the World Health Organisation (WHO) target of 95% to ensure “herd immunity”.
The stats show that not as many children from ethnic minority groups, such as African and Caribbean or Black, are getting the first dose by the age of two but they catch up by the time they are five or six.
However, uptake of the second dose, which provides full coverage against the diseases is concerning health officials.
Only 75% of children in the African ethnic group received the second dose by the age of five last year.
The figure was 83.8% for Caribbean or Black people in Scotland and 87.3% in Asian groups.
The death of a child in Liverpool earlier this month has sparked calls to increase efforts on vaccination.
As part of the strategy, Public Health Scotland has introduced a “status check” and an opportunity to catch up on missed MMR doses in secondary school.
Similarly to MMR, the HPV, Covid-19 and flu vaccine uptake show trends of lower uptake in minority ethnic groups.
Public Health Scotland data for the last flu vaccine programme shows that uptake varies from 55.2% in the White Scottish group, down to 36.2% in the Arab groups, 34.4% in the Pakistani groups and only 22.6% in the Caribbean groups of eligible adults.
Vaccine hesitancy not anti-vax
In June, a health inequalities report from Public Health Scotland studied the factors which had affected the uptake of the Covid and Flu vaccines in some ethnic groups.
It pointed to a lack of trust in organisations promoting the vaccine, not enough information that is culturally and linguistically appropriate, a lack of flexibility in vaccine appointments and perceived harms from vaccines promoted via social media.
Dr Antonia Ho, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Glasgow, tells the BBC it is important to understand that there were many reasons why people don’t take up vaccinations – it is not simply a case of them being against vaccination.
“Vaccine hesitancy shouldn’t be conflated with being anti-vax,” she says.
Dr Ho says often people who don’t take up vaccines have legitimate concerns.
These could include questions such as whether their ethnic group was represented in clinical trials, she says.
Recent research from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) also points to other barriers such as the timing and location of vaccine appointments.
It said: “Research and public health resources are sometimes misdirected by focusing too heavily on vaccine hesitancy, when in fact there are many parents who want to vaccinate but simply can’t access services that work for them.”
The report also acknowledges a “growing disparity in vaccine uptake among some ethnic minority groups, socioeconomically disadvantaged families and migrant communities”.
Ethnic minorities treated differently
Sahira Dar
Dr Sahira Dar believes lower vaccine uptake should be consider in the wider picture of health inequalities for minority ethnic people
Dr Sahira Dar, a GP in Glasgow and president of the British Islamic Medical Association, says it is important not to assign blame to minority ethnic communities.
“We know that lower vaccine uptake and challenges to access appropriate health services are interlinked,” she says.
Dr Dar says patient experience of healthcare can be more difficult depending on how someone is perceived by healthcare staff.
“If you are black, brown, or from an ethnic minority or if you are a refugee or a woman wearing a hijab, unfortunately patients from these groups are treated differently,” Dr Dar says.
She says there is a correlation between these difficulties in healthcare settings and a general mistrust in the system.
It’s an issue that was highlighted in September last year by Scotland’s Health Secretary Neil Gray.
He acknowledged racism as a “significant public health challenge” and said combatting it was “fundamental” to reducing health inequalities in Scotland.
Cultural barriers to healthcare
According to Dr Dar, a lack of cultural understanding can be a barrier too.
She cites the example of the HPV vaccine, which prevents an infection which is sexually transmitted and is responsible for almost all cases of cervical cancer.
Uptake of the HPV vaccine was reported by ethnicity for the first time in the 2023/2024 school year and it showed the rate was much lower in some ethnic minority groups.
The first opportunity to get the vaccine is in the first year of secondary school when the White Scottish ethnic group had an uptake of 73.7%.
In the same age group, uptake was lower (57.4%) in the Black ethnic group and (53.3%) in the Pakistani ethnic group.
It continues to be administered in school until S4, offering opportunities to catch up on coverage. It can also be available further on the NHS.
In some communities there can be stigma attached to conversations about sexual relationships and sexual health.
Dr Dar says some may view getting the HPV vaccine as encouraging promiscuity.
Dr Sigi Joseph, a GP in Glasgow, echoes this.
“Some cultures might think ‘well my child isn’t going to be having sex’, so they might choose not to get the vaccine,” she says.
Dr Joseph says understanding of different cultural barriers – such as Muslim women who prefer to be treated by another women for modesty – is vital otherwise it could result in people being turned away from accessing healthcare.
“If someone’s had a stressful or difficult experience, they probably would talk to their friends and family,” she says.
“How far that filtrates is difficult to know.”
An overall distrust in ‘the system’
Dr Josephine Adekola shared the findings of her study at the Scottish Parliament
Dr Josephine Adekola, a senior lecturer specialising in disaster risk management at the University of Glasgow, began investigating the reasons for lower vaccine uptake in Scottish African communities in 2021 during the Covid pandemic – and heard a variety of concerns.
“A lot of the hesitancy was linked to discriminatory practices and racism,” Dr Adekola says.
During her study, participants told her about long-running problems, with the immigration sector, schooling, housing, and even insufficient action being taken against workplace discrimination.
“The different experiences of policies interrelate with misinformation and disinformation to create so much distrust in this community to make them hesitant,” she says.
Dr Adekola says that lack of support and bad experiences with one sector can lead to people grouping separate parts of the government and public bodies together, resulting in an overall distrust in “the system”.
Misinformation spreads around the world
Misinformation about vaccines is a widespread problem everywhere.
But Dr Adekola says ethnic minority groups have the extra factor of receiving messages from trusted family members in different countries which contain misinformation or pressure not to get vaccinated.
She says that during the Covid pandemic she heard misinformation such as the suggestion that Black people were immune to the virus.
There was also a conspiracy theory that linked getting the vaccine to the “Mark of the Beast” – a Biblical prophecy which says those that aren’t “marked” will suffer economically, and those that are will be in allegiance with the Antichrist.
It is an issue which was also highlighted by Tory leader Kemi Badenoch who grew up in Nigeria.
Giving evidence at the UK Covid Inquiry in November 2023, she said there were “lots of conspiracy theories” shared in her own family’s WhatsApp group chat and a lack of trust in the government in some communities.
The ‘ethnicity data gap’
Dr Mark Wong, a senior lecturer at the University of Glasgow and expert in ethnicity data, also believes that racism is the key reason for poorer health outcomes for minority ethnic people and why there is a lower vaccine uptake.
He says people from minority ethnic backgrounds are not taken seriously when in healthcare settings.
Dr Wong says they are often dismissed or what they say they are experiencing is not trusted as real.
“That has led to delays in diagnosis, delays in treatment and sometimes, ultimately, early, unnecessary deaths and health problems,” Dr Wong says.
He adds that the mistrust minority ethnic people have towards public authorities and the “heightened alertness” in potentially being discriminated against is not fully understood, which results in public health messaging not effectively reaching or convincing minority ethnic communities.
Mark Wong
Dr Mark Wong says looking at the trends in health data is only the “first step” in improving healthcare
Dr Wong says proving the link between lower vaccine uptake and higher deaths in ethnic minority communities during the Covid-19 pandemic had been difficult initially because of a long-standing ethnicity data gap in Scotland.
He says there was a “missed opportunity” at the very start of the pandemic to record ethnicity data.
This led to experts in Scotland relying on reporting from the rest of the UK which highlighted the disproportionately negative impact on minority ethnic people.
Dr Wong says he had highlighted this in a working group to the Scottish government at the end of 2020, around the same time as the Covid-19 vaccination rollout began.
However, the recording of ethnicity data only began in November 2021.
He describes having this information documented now as a “turning point” for the quality of ethnicity data for vaccination programmes since then.
In response to the BBC’s questions on vaccine uptake in ethnic minority groups, a Scottish government spokesperson said: “The Scottish Vaccination and Immunisation Programme will continue to focus on increasing uptake of the MMR vaccine, building confidence in communities and reducing health inequalities.
“NHS Boards know their communities best and are responsible for local delivery plans which support accessible and timely vaccination for people who may face barriers to uptake.”
A Public Health Scotland statement said: “Scotland has a very successful vaccination and immunisation programme with high uptake/coverage rates.
“However, as seen in other nations, there have been in declines in uptake over time and persistent health inequalities that leave some communities more vulnerable than others.”
