Waltham Forest Council is set to launch a targeted grants programme aimed at supporting Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME)-led organisations. The initiative will focus on preventing and managing long-term conditions, including cardiovascular disease (CVD) and chronic kidney disease (CKD).
The programme was discussed at a meeting of the Health and Wellbeing Board on Monday, 14 July 2025, as part of a broader update on the Promoting Wellbeing workstream. This workstream aims to advance preventative approaches to healthcare and reduce health inequalities across the borough.
One area of focus for the council is the Romanian community, which has seen a 162% increase in population between 2011 and 2021. Engagement with the Romanian community revealed barriers to health and wellbeing, cultural expectations from health and care, and challenges related to language, trust, and access. To address these challenges, engagement was conducted in Romanian, led by trained Community Insight Researchers from within the community, and designed to be culturally sensitive and accessible. The council has identified Romanian medical professionals working in the NHS as the most trusted sources of health information and plans to increase engagement with Romanian clinicians and co-design pilot interventions with the community.
The grants programme is part of a wider effort to strengthen partnerships with the voluntary and community sector (VCS) and faith groups. According to the Promoting Wellbeing Update, the VCS Leadership Group has been working to support system alignment and strengthen the role of the voluntary and community sector within health, wellbeing, and social care in Waltham Forest.
Other key achievements of the VCS Leadership Group include securing funding for 2025/26, agreeing final project outcomes and metrics, and deepening involvement in Locality Hub and Neighbourhood development work.
The move comes as the council seeks to address health inequalities highlighted in the 2023 Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA).
As part of the Promoting Wellbeing workstream, progress continues to be made in other priority areas, including:
- Borough of Sanctuary: Supporting migrant and refugee communities with equitable healthcare access.
- Housing and Health: Addressing the central importance of housing in the council's Marmot response, including healthier homes for private renters.
- Mental Health Promotion: Addressing the mental health of Black boys and young men, with a new Oversight Board to be formed, co-chaired by statutory and VCS leaders, with a focus on strong Black leadership.
The Long Term Conditions Strategy focuses on key physical long-term health conditions which contribute to a significant amount of morbidity, mortality and inequality in Waltham Forest:
- Chronic respiratory diseases: asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
- Cardiometabolic conditions: diabetes, hypertension, coronary heart disease (CHD) and chronic kidney disease (CKD)
- Comorbidity: two or more long term conditions; and multimorbidity, complexity and frailty
The strategy proposes four key areas of strategic priority:
- Prevention and early detection
- Improved treatment and management
- Pathway development and integration
- Proactive care and self-management
In addition to the four areas of strategic priority, five groups of people have been identified based on the evidence of health inequalities:
- Those living in areas of deprivation and poor air quality
- Asian and Black ethnic groups
- Those with an existing long-term condition
- Those with learning disabilities
- Those aged 50 years and older
