People’s Health Trust’s Active Communities funding programme is now open in parts of Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham, Croydon, Barnet and Hounslow and will close on Wednesday 11 August. Active Communities is a funding programme for not-for-profit groups with an income of less than £350,000 a year. Projects could be almost anything that encourages strong connections between people and that help people to make their communities or neighbourhoods even better places to grow, live, work and age.

The GSK IMPACT Awards provide core funding and free training for charities doing excellent work to improve people’s health and wellbeing. Organisations must be at least three years old, working in a health-related field in the UK, with income between £120,000 and £3 million. Up to 20 awards will be made, ranging from £4,000 to £50,000, plus free training and development valued at a further £9,500.

The House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee have published the following report evaluating maternity services: "Evaluation of the Government’s progress against its policy commitments in the area of maternity services in England". You may download and read by clicking through to this item.

In April, we began collecting blood plasma from donations to make vital antibody-based medicines and we urgently need more people to make donations. These medicines – called immunoglobulins will help thousands of people with immune diseases. NHS Blood and Transplant is asking for men between the ages of 17 and 66 to consider donating their blood plasma.

The National Lottery Community Fund and The Ubele Initiative, on behalf of The Phoenix Way Partners, have jointly announced a new £50 million partnership aimed to boost funding and support to Black and Minoritised Community charities and grassroots groups over the next five years. The new initiative will help to facilitate engagement with Black and Minoritised community-led charities and grassroots groups to enable them to access funding and support that have previously failed to reach them and have been difficult for them to access.

We are looking for Black British, Black Caribbean and Black African parents who have at least one child aged 16 to take part in a 45 minute online discussion group. In the group we will be asking parents' views about how information is linked together and used by Government and services.

The Several Seats Mentorship Scheme aims to promote and facilitate professional development for women aspiring to work in the field of mental health. The scheme offers personal and professional mentoring for 8 months and will be on an online cloud-based app platform. This scheme provides support to women to develop and strengthen their portfolio as well as get their foot through the door of a competitive and demanding industry.

The new Racial Equality strand is open to charities with an income of between £25,000 and £1 million. To be eligible, applicants need to be supporting people from specific minoritised communities to overcome any of 11 specified Complex Social Issues including: Addiction and dependency on alcohol, drugs and/or gambling; Asylum seekers and refugees; Care leavers; Domestic and sexual abuse; Homeless and vulnerably housed; Learning disabilities; Mental health - read on for full list.

Over 30? Not had your Covid-19 vaccination yet, why not walk-in today? NW London residents aged 45 and over can now walk-in for a Covid-19 vaccination, at one of our eight large vaccination centres across eight North West London boroughs – no appointment needed. If you live in one of these boroughs (Brent, Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham, Harrow, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster) drop-in to one of our centres.

The Lloyds Bank Foundation has recently launched its new grants programme for mall and local charities helping people overcome complex social issues. In response to listening to charities, grants are now available for 3 year periods (with the possibility of extending further) and can cover core and project costs. The fund will distribute £9.5m across 2021.

The new report ‘Ethnic diversity in fertility treatment’ highlights disparities in access to and outcomes of fertility treatment by ethnic group from 2014-18 and actions for the HFEA and others to undertake in response. The report highlights that people from ethnic minority backgrounds undergoing fertility treatment are less likely to have a baby, with Black patients having the lowest chances of successful treatment.

Mahbuba Sabur who is an Emotional support worker, Community Development worker and Westminster resident relates her recent experience of getting the COVID vaccine.

Mrs Khalida Qureshi, wife of the late Cllr Mushtaq Qureshi had her COVID-19 vaccine at St Charles. She said: ”It was very well organised at St Charles and I was seen very quickly. The volunteers were very helpful and the vaccination was painless. I would encourage everyone to get the vaccination so that life can get back to normal as quickly as possible.”

The BME Health Forum is thrilled to announce that they are one of the 10 charities who have recently been awarded Comic Relief's Global Majority fund which is set to help hundreds of smaller grass roots projects across the UK that provide vital services to diverse communities who have the greatest risk of Covid-19.

People who are aged 70 and over who have not yet had their COVID-19 vaccination, and would like to, can contact the NHS to arrange their appointment. For all the latest on booking a COVID-19 vaccine visit the NHS website

Watch Lena Choudary-Salter, CEO of Mosaic Community Trust, take the COVID vaccine and tell us her thoughts about it on the following YouTube video recording the event.

The Coronavirus Resources Centre has published a range of translated social assets (cleared for use in England only) covering: MHRA explained; Vaccines Matter; Vaccine Deployment; Vaccine standards; Vaccine Testing and Vaccine UK trials. Languages include: Arabic; Bengali; Guajarati; Hindi; Punjabi (Indian and Pakistani); Polish; Slovak; Somali and Urdu. Also NHSE vaccination videos: London doctors, nurses and other frontline staff came forward to record messages in some of the most commonly spoken languages – apart from English – in the capital to help ensure messages about the importance of getting a COVID-19 vaccine reach all Londoners.

Petros Tesfagherghis, Secretary of Eritrean Elders Welfare Association at Ladbrook Grove had the Pfizer vaccine. He says: ‘Hi Nafsika. I had the vaccine. It was such a relief! No side effects. I still follow the advice, keep my distance, cover my face and wash hands. Petros.’

ASK DOC are in the process of producing a number of videos in different languages about the COVID-19 vaccine to pass on information and hopefully challenge common misconceptions covering the following: How it works - Why ethnic minorities should have it - When will I get it - What’s the process for getting it. Videos are currently available in Arabic, Kurdish, Farsi, Pushto, Tamil, Turkish, Gujurati and Somali.

Letters inviting residents to register for an appointment at large vaccination centres have now started to be sent out by the national booking service to people in the first priority groups. The letters invite people to log onto the national booking system or call a national number to book their appointment at a centre within 45 minutes of their home address.

Dr Iram Sattar (GP & MWNUK Trustee) separates fact from fiction in this short video. Iram debunks the misinformation surrounding the newly established Covid-19 vaccine and encourages everyone to take the vaccine when offered!

Concia Albert, Westminster resident and Head of Social Prescribing at One Westminster relates her recent experience of getting the Coronavirus vaccine.

Unable to work from home and have no Coronavirus symptoms. Get tested. You can now get a free rapid Community Test if you have no symptoms and are a key worker or are unable to work from home.

If you live in Westminster or Kensington and Chelsea and you’re over 16, you can order your free contraception and sexual health test online through SHL.uk London’s online sexual health service.

The COVID-19 Infographics website contains infographics available to download to help summarise key points about COVID-19 in a variety of languages to get the right information, in an easy to understand format, to these communities.

All children aged 2 and 3 can have a free flu vaccine at their GP practice. The vaccine is usually given as a single painless spray squirted up the nose. This spray contains a highly processed from of porcine gelatine. The NHS are now able to offer an alternative to families who prefer not to have the nasal spray. Parents of 2/3year olds can request an injected flu vaccine for their child at their GP practice. This injected vaccine does NOT contain gelatine.

Please download and see the House of Commons/ House of Lords Joint Committee on Human Rights report: Black people, racism, and human rights - including formal minutes relating to the report.

"In the early weeks of the Covid pandemic, as mounting evidence began to show that Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities were dying at a disproportionate rate, I was asked by the Leader of the Labour Party, Sir Keir Starmer, to lead a review to investigate the reasons. It was immediately apparent that the impact on people’s health was inseparable from economic prospects and experiences of discrimination."

Witnessing, hearing or being involved in any violent or traumatic events can leave people in a state of confusion and fear. Children and young people, in particular, find it difficult to make sense of such experiences. The “Talking to your Children about Violent Incidents” booklet provides handy tips for parents, carers and other adults on how to initiate and sustain that conversation and support, along with details of some helpful services. (Booklet also available in Arabic, Somali, Bengali (Sylheti) and Kurdish (Sorani) languages.

The BME Health Forum has been funded by the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster City Council to run a project providing information to BME communities about the NHS Test and Trace service. We are working with 11 partners to reach 950 households where people are not fluent English speakers and may find it difficult to access information about the NHS Test and Trace service.

Curious about the absence of black and minority ethnic voices on the theme of hereditary conditions, Yemisi Bokinni, a medical doctor by background with a degree in human genetics embarked on a year-long journey to find individuals and explore the dynamics of living with a hereditary condition from this perspective.

Imperial College Healthcare Trust continue to provide urgent and emergency care for all conditions - not only Covid-19. We are beginning to re-open our services, including routine elective procedures and surgery. In a short video presentation you can see important information about how they are keeping patients safe during the pandemic.

In a short video presentation Nafsika Thalassis, Director of the BME Health Forum speaks about our work with NHS Imperial Healthcare Trust in responding to BME communities' concerns during the pandemic.

Following on from ongoing work looking at the changing impact that COVID-19 is having on the way people live, Public Health England is interested in the impact of Covid–19 on people living with obesity. They are working with Dr Adrian Brown who is a Research Fellow and Specialist Dietitian at University College London to explore perceptions, attitudes and actions of people living with obesity to the COVID-19 outbreak.

At the beginning of March, WAND UK started thinking about how to adjust and cope with the new situation brought on by the Coronavirus. We understand the impact of self-isolation on mental health and general wellbeing. To help people maintain their own wellbeing, WAND UK started offering their yoga and dance classes online, mental health support and befriending.over the phone and also food deliveries.

BBC Asian Network have produced videos of GPs explaining COVID-19 in the following Asian languages: Gujurati, Tamil, Sylheti,Hindi and Urdu.

In respect of government guidelines relating to the COVID-9 outbreak we are announcing that the BME Health Forum's Emotional Well-being project is continuing via telephone support and with the support of our partners, we hope to be able to continue support clients who don’t speak English in a number of community languages during this difficult time.

In the following video Eddie Chan, former Chair of the BME Health Forum introduces the Chinese Health & Wellbeing Clinic services in Central London followed by lead doctor Dr Kit Wu who gives important public health information about the COVID 19 virus to the Chinese Community.