A one-size fits all approach to measure body mass does not work in our diverse population, says NICE

Professor Mike Kelly, Director of the Centre for Public Health at NICE explained: “The point at which the level of body fat becomes risky to health varies between ethnic groups. Healthcare workers should apply lower thresholds to people from black, Asian and other minority ethnic groups than to those of white European descent. Excess body fat contributes to more than half of cases of type 2 diabetes, one in five of heart disease and between 8% and 42% of certain cancers (breast, colon and endometrial)[1]. The number of people affected by these health conditions is far greater among black, Asian and other minority ethnic groups - despite rates of obesity among these groups being similar to the white population[2]”.
In the UK, people of black African and African-Caribbean origin are three times more likely to have type 2 diabetes than the white population[3]. Type 2 diabetes is also more common among Chinese people[4]. In addition, people from all of these groups are more at risk of stroke[5].

Standards of care for people who self-harm must be improved, says NICE

he National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published a quality standard to improve the quality of care and support for children, young people, and adults who self-harm.
The term self-harm is used to refer to any act of self-injury or self-poisoning carried out by a person, irrespective of their motivation. This commonly involves self-injury by cutting or self-poisoning with medication. Hospitals in England deal with around 220,000 episodes of self-harm by 150,000 people each year [i].

Advice from NICE supports improved commissioning for people who self-harm

NICE´s support for commissioning for self-harm, published today, will help commissioners to drive up quality and ensure that the needs of people who self-harm are being addressed in the range of generic services they commonly use.