ASIAN VOICE NOVEMBER 2009

Although it is never wise to live in the past we must never ever forget our history and the significance that the community gives to anniversaries and propitious days bears witness to this.

As I watched the pictures of the vast storm breaking in from the Arabian Sea to breach the defences of Mumbai this week I thought back to the horrifying events that took place almost a year ago.

Steve Backs the Ban

Steve Pound and Hilary Benn “Back the Ban” in a campaign to stop

Fox Hunting becoming legal again.

Back The Ban

Wood End Residents’ Association 2009 Christmas Party!

Ready to Go

Tables all Set for the Party to start

Having a chat

Chatting with the other guests

Prize winner

Somebody always wins

Uniform for this Occasion - Funny Hat

Funny hats should be worn at all times

Steve visits the Pope

WHO’S THE BLOKE BEHIND YOU ?

There’s always someone looking over your shoulder.

VITAMIN D AND YOUR HEALTH

One of the oddest – and the best – things about being an MP is the complete absence of any formal Job Description and the need to become involved with, and to hopefully be of some help to, any constituent with any sort of problem at all.

My regular meetings with Ealing Hospital and Ealing Primary Care Trust often throw up concerns that I hadn’t previously been aware of and a recent discussion gives a really good example of this.

Dr.Colin Michie, a Consultant at Ealing Hospital, has become ever more aware of the increasingly large number of children being seen at the hospital and in clinics for rickets and pulmonary tuberculosis.

Like most people I’d assumed that rickets were a disease of the Victorian past and I was horrified to hear about the rising number of children with this problem in our borough today.

The issue is one of vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D is made in the skin when it is exposed to sunshine and where no sunshine touches the skin no vitamin D is formed.

The vital vitamin is needed to absorb calcium and to build bones as well as being necessary for the immune system and muscle function.

A deficiency of vitamin D means weaker bones and problems like tuberculosis, diabetes and heart disease becoming much more common.

Our pale west London sun is not really sufficiently strong between September and March to allow the skin to make enough vitamin D which is why we take supplements and – best of all – fish oil to make up the shortfall.

One reason why we face such a problem in Ealing is that many women wear traditional clothing from their homelands, as they are entirely entitled to do, and this covers the skin and directly leads to an even greater problem of vitamin deficiency.

The situation in our part f the world has been getting worse over the past five years and paediatricians are now finding many cases of infants having fits because of low calcium levels and they and their mothers both have dangerously lower levels of vitamin D.

Women and children of Somali origin are particularly badly affected; but any group of people who cover the skin are putting themselves and any children that they may have in the future at serious risk unless they compensate for the absence of sunlight on the skin.

This is all entirely preventable without having to abandon the clothing of choice. Cod liver oil capsules and vitamin D supplements are available over the counter and the excellent community pharmacists that we have in Ealing will gladly advise any individual who asks for help.

I was amazed to learn of the extent of the problem and was even more horrified to see a young child with rickets whose health could have been immeasurably improved if his mother had taken vitamin D by mouth.

I was asked what I could do to get the message across to those who are still not aware of the consequences of covering the skin in a country that does not have the blistering sunshine that can penetrate loose clothing. Maternity and hospital based services are on the case and community dieticians and health visitors are doing all they can but sometimes you have to go to the top and this is where the Ealing “Gazette” comes in.

We have to get the message across and I profoundly hope that this article will reach members of the community who can then pass on the information.

Children must not live a life of pain and ill health if we can do something simple to prevent it. We have to do more and I very much hope that this piece has helped in even a small way.

It’s never a dull life as an MP but I’ve been blessed with pretty good health, even if my hair all but disappeared soon after I was elected, and I can’t stand to see a sick child and hope that fewer will suffer in the future.

I’ll never match Dr.Michie for his contribution to our West London world but I’ll keep on learning new things and doing my best to make life a little better.