United Kingdom

Target communities: British Bangladeshis

Vaccine(s): Measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR)

Description of the target community

British Bangladeshis are people of Bangladeshi origin who have attained citizenship in the United Kingdom through immigration and historical naturalisation. The term can also refer to their descendants. During the 1970s, large numbers of Bangladeshis immigrated to the UK, primarily from the Sylhet Division. The largest concentration lives in east London boroughs, such as Tower Hamlets. Bangladeshis form one of the UK’s largest groups of people of overseas descent and are also one of the country’s youngest and fastest growing communities. British Bangladeshis had the highest overall relative poverty rate of any ethnic group in the UK with 65% of Bangladeshis living in low income households, as for 2005.

Vaccine uptake

There are no vaccination rates available for MMR in this group. However, there is evidence that Bangladeshis have higher vaccinations rates than average for other childhood vaccinations like Rotavirus1 Byrne L, Ward C, White JM, Amirthalingam G, Edelstein M. Predictors of coverage of the national maternal pertussis and infant rotavirus vaccination programmes in England. Epidemiology & Infection. 2018 Jan;146(2):197-206. and DTP32Tiley KS1, White JM2, Andrews N3, Ramsay M4, Edelstein M5. Inequalities in childhood vaccination timing and completion in London. Vaccine. 2018 Oct 29;36(45):6726-6735.

Contextual factors:

At the time of the 2011 census, 0.8% of the population of England and Wales was Bangladeshi (n=447,201). The Bangladeshi population in England and Wales has the youngest age profile when compared to other ethnic groups, with the highest percentage of people aged under 18 years (38.3%) and lowest percentage of people aged 65+ years (3.7%) (Office for National Statistics (ONS), 2018). Bangladeshi communities are considered to be one of the most disadvantaged ethnic groups in the UK: The latest figures show that people living in households headed by someone of Bangladeshi ethnicity are more likely to be on a low income (defined as below 60% of the median national income) than households headed by any other ethnic group. In 2013/14, 51% of households headed by someone of Bangladeshi ethnicity were in low income vs. 19% of households headed by someone of White ethnicity3 Tiley KS1, White JM2, Andrews N3, Ramsay M4, Edelstein M5. Inequalities in childhood vaccination timing and completion in London. Vaccine. 2018 Oct 29;36(45):6726-6735. Households headed by someone of Bangladeshi ethnicity are more likely to be overcrowded than households headed by any other ethnic group (Public Health England, 2018). The latest figures, from the 2011 Census, show that 30.2% of Bangladeshi households were overcrowded compared to 2.8% of White British households (ONS, 2014). People of Bangladeshi ethnicity have notably poorer health, as measured by a range of indicators, in comparison to other ethnic groups (Public Health England, 2018).

Facilitators to vaccination:

There is limited up-to-date published literature on childhood vaccination attitudes and behaviours amongst Bangladeshi communities in the UK, particularly literature focused on MMR vaccination uptake. However, Mixer, Jamrozik & Newsom (2007) found that MMR vaccine acceptability was higher amongst Asian (including Bangladeshi) mothers compared to Afro-Caribbean and White British mothers. The authors suggest that this may be due to higher levels of trust in healthcare professionals and less awareness of the MMR vaccine scare amongst Asian mothers (Mixer, Jamrozik & Newson, 2007). Forster et al (2017) identified several ethnicity-related barriers to vaccination uptake amongst Black and Asian ethnic minority groups in the UK, including the cultural acceptability of vaccines, awareness and understanding of the UK vaccination programme, and beliefs about biological differences impacting on vaccine effectiveness and side effects.

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