Community Health Involvement and Empowerment Forum in Manchester (CHIEF)

CHIEF aims to reduce health inequalities and improve the quality of life of the public, particularly the Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic Communities in England & Wales.

The Community Health Involvement and Empowerment Forum (CHIEF) in Manchester was founded by Dr Syed Nayyer Abidi.  Dr Abidi conducted research into the availability of multilingual information for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) patients from North Manchester Hospital in 1998.  What he discovered was that there was a lack of information for BAME patients in the area.  Therefore he and his colleagues started to produce a bilingual health book in English and Urdu with the assistance of specialist doctors.  The book was published in 2002 and 5,000 copies were distributed.

The company now run various activities, all focused around their aim of improving the quality and combating the inequality of care around England and Wales. 

CHIEF currently:

Produce free publications

Organise and run multilingual health awareness events

Have a free multilingual helpline for advice and information

Have a website of health information

Distribute a newsletter to over 10,000 subscribers

Their funders to date have included:  Primary care Trusts (PCT’s), the Department of Communities and Local Government, the Community Foundation and local councils.  CHIEF is also looking into funding from the Department of Health and the Home Office. 

Dr Syed Nayyer Abidi was also recently given a ‘Manchester Hero’ award by the Manchester Evening News for his work in the community.