O cuidado em saúde promovido pelas religiões afro-brasileiras / Health care promoted by afro-brazilian religions / El cuidado en salud promovido por las religiones afrobrasileñas

No decorrer da história, sempre foram infindáveis os casos em que os sujeitos recorriam a centros espíritas ou terreiros de religiões de matrizes africanas em decorrência de problemas como doenças, desempregos ou amores mal resolvidos, com o objetivo de saná-los. Por conta disso, este artigo visa apresentar os resultados da pesquisa relacionados ao objetivo de mapear os processos de cuidado em saúde ofertados em três terreiros de umbanda de uma cidade do litoral piauiense. Para isso, utilizamos o referencial da Análise Institucional "no papel". Os participantes foram três líderes de terreiros e os respectivos praticantes/consulentes dos seus estabelecimentos religiosos. Identificamos perspectivas de cuidado que se contrapunham às racionalidades biomédicas, positivistas e cartesianas, e faziam referência ao uso de plantas medicinais, ao recebimento de rezas e passes e à consulta oracular. A partir desses resultados, podemos perceber ser cada vez mais necessário, portanto, que os povos de terreiros protagonizem a construção, implementação e avaliação das políticas públicas que lhe sejam específicas.(AU)

In history, there have always been endless cases of people turning to spiritual centers or terreiros of religions of African matrices due to problems such as illnesses, unemployment, or unresolved love affairs. Therefore, this article aims to present the research results related to the objective of mapping the health care processes offered in three Umbanda terreiros of a city on the Piauí Coast. For this, we use the Institutional Analysis reference "on Paper." The participants were three leaders of terreiros and the respective practitioners/consultants of their religious establishments. We identified perspectives of care that contrasted with biomedical, positivist, and Cartesian rationalities and referred to the use of medicinal plants, the prescript of prayers and passes, and oracular consultation. From these results, we can see that it is increasingly necessary, therefore, that the peoples of the terreiros lead the construction, implementation, and evaluation of public policies that are specific to them.(AU)

A lo largo de la historia, siempre hubo casos en los cuales las personas buscan en los centros espíritas o terreros de religiones africanas la cura para sus problemas, como enfermedades, desempleo o amoríos mal resueltos. Por este motivo, este artículo pretende presentar los resultados de la investigación con el objetivo de mapear los procesos de cuidado en salud ofrecidos en tres terreros de umbanda de una ciudad del litoral de Piauí (Brasil). Para ello, se utiliza el referencial del Análisis Institucional "en el Papel". Los participantes fueron tres líderes de terreros y los respectivos practicantes / consultivos de los establecimientos religiosos que los mismos conducían. Se identificaron perspectivas de cuidado que se contraponían a las racionalidades biomédicas, positivistas y cartesianas, y hacían referencia al uso de plantas medicinales, al recibimiento de rezos y pases y a la consulta oracular. Los resultados permiten concluir que es cada vez más necesario que los pueblos de terreros sean agentes protagónicos de la construcción, implementación y evaluación de las políticas públicas destinadas específicamente para ellos.(AU)

Notas para decolonizar os estudos transpessoais no brasil: contribuições do pluriperspectivismo participativo / Notes for decolonizing transpersonal studies in brazil: contributions of participatory pluriperspectivism / Apuntes para la decolonización de los estudios transpersonales en brasil: aportes del pluriperspectivismo participativo

O campo dos estudos transpessoais tem avançado em diversas áreas no Brasil. Comemorou seus 40 anos com uma inserção ativa nas Instituições de Ensino Superior (IES) e uma ampliação de núcleos formativos e apoiadores de ensino, pesquisa e ações sociais, além de diálogos com o Sistema de Conselhos de Psicologia. Desafios são apresentados a partir do levantamento de uma série de questões importantes e ignoradas dentro da Psicologia Transpessoal no Brasil. Apresentamos o pluriperspectivismo participativo como possibilidade de decolonizar as matrizes eurocêntricas e estadunidenses, que dão suporte ao pensamento transpessoal brasileiro, buscando honrar nossas raízes históricas e incluir outras epistemologias e ontologias, que dão continuidade à crítica à lógica cartesiana moderna. Indicamos uma breve agenda de notas temáticas que carecem de um processo decolonizador no campo transpessoal: a) crítica às perspectivas de um pensamento hegemônico, em termos globais por meio da dominação Norte-Sul ou no campo das relações sociais; b) revisão das formas de "centrocentrismo"; c) questionamento da noção de universalismo das ciências e da ética; d) aprofundamento da análise crítica da supremacia restritiva da racionalidade formal técnico-científica em relação às formas de subjetividade, de vivências holísticas e integradoras e de valorização do corpo; e) revisão da noção de sujeito moderno desprovida da cocriação do humano com a comunidade, a história, a natureza e o cosmos.(AU)

The field of transpersonal studies has advanced in several areas in Brazil. It celebrated its 40th anniversary with an active insertion in Higher Education Institutions (HEI) and an expansion of training centers and supporters of teaching, research, and social actions, in addition to dialogues with the System of Councils of Psychology. Challenges are presented based on a survey of a series of important and ignored issues within Transpersonal Psychology in Brazil. We present participatory pluriperspectivism as a possibility to decolonize the Eurocentric and North American matrices that support Brazilian transpersonal thought, seeking to honor our historical roots and include other epistemologies and ontologies, which continue the critique of modern Cartesian logic. We indicate a brief agenda of thematic notes that lack a decolonizing process in the transpersonal field: a) criticism of the perspectives of a hegemonic thought, whether in global terms via North-South domination or in the field of social relations; b) review of the forms of "centrocentrism"; c) questioning of the notion of universalism of science and ethics; d) deepening of the critical analysis of the restrictive supremacy of the technical-scientific formal rationality in relation to the forms of subjectivity, of holistic and integrative experiences, and of valuing the body; e) review of the notion of the modern subject devoid of the co-creation of the human with the community, the history, the nature, and the cosmos.(AU)

El campo de los estudios transpersonales ha avanzado en varias áreas de Brasil. Se celebró su 40.º aniversario con una inserción activa en Instituciones de Educación Superior (IES) y una ampliación de los centros de formación y promotores de la docencia, la investigación y la acción social, además de diálogos con el Sistema de Consejos de Psicología. Los desafíos se presentan a partir de una encuesta de una serie de temas importantes e ignorados dentro de la Psicología Transpersonal en Brasil. Presentamos el pluriperspectivismo participativo como una posibilidad para decolonizar las matrices eurocéntrica y americana, que sustentan el pensamiento transpersonal brasileño, buscando honrar nuestras raíces históricas e incluir otras epistemologías y ontologías que continúan la crítica de la lógica cartesiana moderna. Indicamos una breve agenda de apuntes temáticos que carecen de un proceso decolonizador en el campo transpersonal: a) crítica de las perspectivas de un pensamiento hegemónico, ya sea en términos globales a través del dominio Norte-Sur o en el campo de las relaciones sociales; b) revisión de las formas de "centrocentrismo"; c) cuestionamiento de la noción de universalismo de la ciencia y la ética; d) profundización del análisis crítico de la supremacía restrictiva de la racionalidad formal técnico-científica en relación a las formas de subjetividad, de experiencias holísticas e integradoras y de valoración del cuerpo; e) revisión de la noción de sujeto moderno desprovisto de la cocreación de lo humano con la comunidad, la historia, la naturaleza y el cosmos.(AU)

Differences in food consumption in regions of Poland that had been previously under Austrian, Prussian and Russian annexations

Background: It seems that one of the factors affecting the way of nutrition in Poland was the dietary habits of countries that in the late 18th century made partitions, ie. Russia, Prussia and Austria. Therefore, nutrition models in the areas of individual partitions have undergone significant changes. Objective: The aim of the study was to check whether after 85 years after regaining independence there were still differences in the way of feeding indigenous inhabitants of areas previously under Austrian, Prussian and Russian annexation. Material and methods: The data collected during the WOBASZ survey carried out in the years 2003-2005 were used for the analysis. Results: The greatest differences in the way of feeding were found in the area that was previously under the rule of Prussia. The nutrition model was still largely reminiscent of typical German cuisine. There was a large consumption of sausages and spreads, and small vegetables and fruit. Nutrition models in other areas were less characteristic. Conclusions: The way of feeding indigenous people living in areas that were once partitions of Poland is still diverse and similar to the cuisine of the occupying country.

Cultural significance of termites in sub-Saharan Africa.

BACKGROUND: The number of termite species in the world is more than 2500, and Africa with more than 1000 species has the richest intercontinental diversity. The family Termitidae contains builders of great mounds up to 5 m high. Colonies are composed of casts: a queen, a king, soldiers and workers. Some species of termite cultivate specialised fungi to digest cellulose. Termites constitute 10% of all animal biomass in the tropics. The purpose of the study was to make an overview of how termites are utilized, perceived and experienced in daily life across sub-Saharan Africa. METHOD: Ethno-entomological information on termites (Isoptera) in sub-Saharan Africa was collected by: (1) interviews with more than 300 people from about 120 ethnic groups from 27 countries in the region; (2) library studies in Africa, London, Paris and Leiden. RESULTS: Vernacular names relate to mounds, insects as food, the swarming, and the behaviour of termites. Swarming reproductive, soldiers and queens are collected as food. There are many different ways to harvest them. Termites can also be used as feed for poultry or as bait to catch birds and fish. The mushrooms that grow each year from the fungus gardens on the termite mounds are eaten. The soldiers, the fungus gardens and the soil of termite mounds are used for multiple medicinal purposes. Mounds and soil of termites have numerous functions: for geochemical prospecting, making bricks, plastering houses, making pots, and for storage. Termite soil is often used as fertilizer. The act of eating soil (geophagy) among women, especially those that are pregnant, is practised all over Africa. The mounds can serve as burying places and are often associated with the spiritual world, especially containing the spirits of ancestors. Termites also play a role as oracle, in superstitious beliefs, in art and literature. CONCLUSION: The following characteristics make termites so appealing: the dominance in the landscape, the social organization, the destructive power, and the provision of food. The study shows that termites play a major role in peoples' lives, in physical as well as spiritual aspects.

"Darse un gustito", cocinar y comer en familia. Villa La Tela, Córdoba, Argentina / "Taking a little taste", cooking and eating within the family: Villa La Tela, Cordoba, Argentina / "Experimentar um pouco de sabor", cozinhar e comer em família: Villa La Tela, Córdoba, Argentina

Resumen El objetivo de este trabajo consistió en reconstruir la gramática culinaria de las cocinas familiares de Villa La Tela, Córdoba, Argentina. Se realizó una investigación cualitativa desde una matriz de lectura materialista e interpretativista. Las técnicas utilizadas fueron: recetario viajero, encuentros expresivo-creativos y entrevistas semi-estructuradas. El análisis de las fuentes primarias se realizó mediante la teoría fundamentada. La construcción analítica de la gramática culinaria familiar aquí propuesta presenta cuatro dimensiones relacionales: Carta de menús familiares (Comidas/bebidas frecuentes, Comidas in-imaginables de existencia, Comidas que generan curiosidad de ser probadas, Comidas consideradas no-comidas, Comidas que se extrañan, Sus modificaciones); Cocinero (Transmisión de los haceres/saberes culinarios, Rol asumido al cocinar, Criterios para elegir el menú, Sensibilidades asociadas al cocinar, Normativa impartida); Comensales (Niños como destinatarios, Adultos como destinatarios); La situación de compartir el espacio-tiempo de comer (Con un nos-Otros, Con un-Otro de clase, Significados del compartir la comida). Más allá de habitar un escenario de pobreza estructural, las familias vivencian la gramática culinaria como estandarte de lucha de su historia alimentaria-nutricional, implementarla es "darse un gustito". Además, aparece el cocinar como vía de escape de lo real dando rienda suelta a la mixtura perfecta entre la creatividad y el afecto.

Abstract This paper aimed to reconstruct the culinary grammar of the family's kitchens of Villa La Tela, Cordoba, Argentina. A qualitative study was conducted from a materilistic an interpretative key. The techniques used were: traveling recipe, expressive and creative meetings and semi-structured interviews. The analysis of the primary sources was performed using the grounded theory. The analytic construction of the family culinary grammar proposed here refers to four relational dimensions: Familiar menus card (Frequent Food/Beverage, Unimaginable meals, Food that generate curiosity to try it; Meals that area considered non-food, Missed meals and their changes); Cook (Transmission of doings and culinary knowledge, Cooking role assumed, Criteria for choosing the menu, Sensitivities associated with cooking, Given rules); Commensals (Children as receivers, Adults as receivers); The situation of sharing the eating's space-time (With us-Others, With-Other Classmates, The meanings of sharing food). Beyond inhabiting a stage of structural poverty, the culinary grammar is experienced by the families as a struggle banner for their food and nutrition history, and implementing means "taking a taste". In addition, cooking appears as an escape from the real world unleashing the perfect mix between creativity and affection.

Resumo O objetivo do artigo é reconstruir a gramática culinária das cozinhas familiares de Villa La Tela, em Córdoba, Argentina. Realizou-se investigação qualitativa a partir de uma matriz materialista e interpretativa. As técnicas utilizadas foram: receitas de viagem, encontros expressivo-criativos e entrevistas semiestruturadas. A análise das fontes primárias foi realizada utilizando a teoria fundamentada. A construção analítica da gramática culinária familiar aqui proposta tem quatro dimensões relacionais: Carta de menus familiares (Comidas/bebidas frequentes, Comidas de existência in-imaginável, Comidas que geram curiosidade de ser provadas, Comidas consideradas não comidas, Comidas de que se sente falta, Suas modificações); Cozinheiro (Transmissão dos fazres/saberes culinários, Papel assumido ao cozinhar, Critérios para escolher o menu, Sensibilidades associadas ao cozinhar, Regulamento dado); Comensais (Crianças como destinatários, Adultos como destinatários); A situação de compartilhar o espaço-tempo de comer (Com um nos-Outros, Com um-Outro da turma, Significados de compartilhar a comida). Apesar de viverem em um local com pobreza estrutural, as famílias vivenciam a gramática culinária como estandarte de luta da sua história alimentar-nutricional, e implementá-la é "experimentar um pouco de sabor". Ademais, cozinhar surge como via de escape do real, dando rédea livre à mistura perfeita entre a criatividade e o afeto.

Identification of Aboriginal children using linked administrative data: Consequences for measuring inequalities.

AIM: The aim of this study was to examine the identification of Aboriginal children in multiple administrative datasets and how this may affect estimates of health and development. METHODS: Data collections containing a question about Aboriginal ethnicity: birth registrations, perinatal statistics, Australian Early Development Census and school enrolments were linked to datasets recording developmental outcomes: national literacy and numeracy tests (National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy), Australian Early Development Census and perinatal statistics (birthweight) for South Australian children born 1999-2005 (n = 13 414-44 989). Six algorithms to derive Aboriginal ethnicity were specified. The proportions of children thus quantified were compared for developmental outcomes, including those scoring above the national minimum standard in year 3 National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy reading. RESULTS: The proportion of Aboriginal children identified varied from 1.9% to 4.7% when the algorithm incremented from once to ever identified as Aboriginal, the latter using linked datasets. The estimates of developmental outcomes were altered: for example, the proportion of Aboriginal children who performed above the national minimum standard in year 3 reading increased by 12 percentage points when the algorithm incremented from once to ever identified as Aboriginal. Similar differences by identification algorithm were seen for all outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: The proportion of South Australian children identified as Aboriginal in administrative datasets, and hence inequalities in developmental outcomes, varied depending on which and how many data sources were used. Linking multiple administrative datasets to determine the Aboriginal ethnicity of the child may be useful to inform policy, interventions, service delivery and how well we are closing developmental gaps.

Placement education pedagogy as social participation: what are students really learning?

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: This paper draws on empirical fieldwork data of naturally occurring UK physiotherapy placement education to make visible how education is actually carried out and suggest what students may be learning through their placement interactions. The data challenge everyone involved in placement education design and practice to consider the values and practices students are learning to perpetuate through placement education experiences. METHODS: The researcher undertook an ethnomethodologically informed ethnographic observation of naturally occurring physiotherapy placement education in two UK NHS placement sites. This study adopted a social perspective of learning to focus on the minutiae of placement educator, student and patient interaction practices during student-present therapeutic activities. Two days of placement for each of six senior students were densely recorded in real-time focussing specifically on the verbal, kinesics and proxemics-based elements of the participants' interaction practices. Repeated cycles of data analysis suggested consistent practices irrespective of the placement, educators, students or patients. RESULTS: The data suggest that placement education is a powerful situated learning environment in which students see, experience and learn to reproduce the physiotherapy practices valued by the local placement. Consistently, placement educators and students co-produced patient-facing activities as spectacles of physiotherapy-as-science. In each setting, patients were used as person-absent audiovisual teaching aids from which students learnt to make a case for physiotherapy intervention. DISCUSSION: The paper challenges physiotherapists and other professions using work-placement education to look behind the rhetoric of their placement documentation and explore the reality of students' learning in the field. The UK-based physiotherapy profession may wish to consider further the possible implications of its self-definition as a 'science-based healthcare profession' on its in-the-presence-of-students interactions with patients.

An empirical comparison of knowledge and skill in the context of traditional ecological knowledge.

BACKGROUND: We test whether traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) about how to make an item predicts a person's skill at making it among the Tsimane' (Bolivia). The rationale for this research is that the failure to distinguish between knowledge and skill might account for some of the conflicting results about the relationships between TEK, human health, and economic development. METHODS: We test the association between a commonly-used measure of individual knowledge (cultural consensus analysis) about how to make an arrow or a bag and a measure of individual skill at making these items, using ordinary least-squares regression. The study consists of 43 participants from 3 villages. RESULTS: We find no association between our measures of knowledge and skill (core model, p > 0.5, R2 = .132). CONCLUSIONS: While we cannot rule out the possibility of a real association between these phenomena, we interpret our findings as support for the claim that researchers should distinguish between methods to measure knowledge and skill when studying trends in TEK.

Fat, desire and disgust in the colonial imagination.

This article tracks the relatively unexamined ways in which ethnographic, travel and medical knowledge interrelated in the construction of fat stereotypes in the nineteenth century, often plotted along a temporal curve from 'primitive' corpulence to 'civilized' moderation. By showing how the complementary insights of medicine and ethnography circulated in beauty manuals, weight-loss guides and popular ethnographic books ­ all of which were aimed at middle-class readers and thus crystallize certain bourgeois attitudes of the time ­ it argues that the pronounced denigration of fat that emerged in Britain and France by the early twentieth century acquired some of its edge through this ongoing tendency to depict desire for and acceptance of fat as fundamentally 'savage' or 'uncivilized' traits. This tension between fat and 'civilization' was by no means univocal or stable. Rather, this analysis shows, a complex and wide-ranging series of similarities and differences, identifications and refusals can be traced between British and French perceptions of their own bodies and desires and the shortcomings they saw in foreign cultures. It sheds light as well on those aspects of their own societies that seemed 'primitive' in ways that bore an uncomfortable similarity to the colonial peoples they governed, demonstrating how a gendered, yet ultimately unstable, double standard was sustained for much of the nineteenth century. Finally it reveals a subtle and persistent racial subtext to the anti-fat discourses that would become more aggressive in the twentieth century and which are ubiquitous today.

Applying the concept of culture to reduce health disparities through health behavior research.

Culture is often cited as an underlying cause of the undue burden of disease borne by communities of color along the entire life cycle. However, culture is rarely defined or appropriately measured. Scientifically, culture is a complex, integrated, and dynamic conceptual framework that is incongruent with the way it is operationalized in health behavior theories: as a unidimensional, static, and immutable character element of a homogeneous population group. This paper lays out this contradiction and proposes a more scientifically grounded approach to the use of culture. The premise is that if the concept of culture were better operationalized, results from studies of diverse population groups would produce findings that are more scientifically valid and relevant to the community. Practitioners could then use these findings to develop more effective strategies to reduce health disparities and improve the health of all population groups. Six steps are proposed to increase our ability to achieve greater clarity on what culture is and to identify how it impacts health behavior and ultimately health outcomes, enabling researchers to build a stronger science of cultural diversity.

What is life worth? A rough guide to valuation.

In this speculative article, the aim is to elaborate a definition of life that is not biological, and a valuation of it that is not commodified. This is undertaken by the development of an understanding of death as a process which is embedded in the life of a community. The idea is that we can best understand what life is worth by first understanding what death means.

The health impact of social disadvantage in early childhood; the Generation R study.

Inequalities in child health are of major concern to policymakers, public health specialists and clinicians. This review of studies within the context of the Generation R study illustrates that inequalities in population health, at least partly, originate in pregnancy and early childhood. The review shows inequalities with regard to the health of the pregnant mother, with regard to the growth of the fetus, with regard to birth outcomes, and with regard to health indicators in early childhood. These results are shown with regard to both biological/somatic outcomes, as well as with regard to psychosocial outcomes and healthy lifestyles. Both socioeconomic inequalities and ethnic inequalities in health are present. Although some inequalities can be explained by known determinants, research needs to be done to reach a full understanding of the pathways between social disadvantage and ill health in early childhood.

!Kung nutritional status and the original "affluent society"--a new analysis.

The theme of the 2011 meetings of the German Anthropological Society, "Biological and Cultural Markers of Environmental Pressure", provides the entree to revisit one of Anthropology's most enduring canons - hunters and gathers are well-nourished and healthy. The Dobe !Kung foragers of the Kalahari Desert often serve as a model of hunter-gatherer adaptation for both extant and Paleolithic humans. A re-analysis of food intake, energy expenditure, and demographic data collected in the 1960s for the Dobe !Kung finds that their biocultural indicators of nutritional status and health were, at best, precarious and, at worst, indicative of a society in danger of extinction. Hunting and gathering is the lifestyle to which the human species was most persistently adapted, in terms of the biological, cultural, and emotional meanings of the word 'adapted.' However, the few remaining foraging groups studied in the 20th Century are unlikely to serve as the ideal models of that ancient way of life.

How effects on health equity are assessed in systematic reviews of interventions.

BACKGROUND: Enhancing health equity has now achieved international political importance with endorsement from the World Health Assembly in 2009.  The failure of systematic reviews to consider effects on health equity is cited by decision-makers as a limitation to their ability to inform policy and program decisions.  OBJECTIVES: To systematically review methods to assess effects on health equity in systematic reviews of effectiveness. SEARCH STRATEGY: We searched the following databases up to July 2 2010: MEDLINE, PsychINFO, the Cochrane Methodology Register, CINAHL, Education Resources Information Center, Education Abstracts, Criminal Justice Abstracts, Index to Legal Periodicals, PAIS International, Social Services Abstracts, Sociological Abstracts, Digital Dissertations and the Health Technology Assessment Database. We searched SCOPUS to identify articles that cited any of the included studies on October 7 2010. SELECTION CRITERIA: We included empirical studies of cohorts of systematic reviews that assessed methods for measuring effects on health inequalities. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Data were extracted using a pre-tested form by two independent reviewers. Risk of bias was appraised for included studies according to the potential for bias in selection and detection of systematic reviews.  MAIN RESULTS: Thirty-four methodological studies were included.  The methods used by these included studies were: 1) Targeted approaches (n=22); 2) gap approaches (n=12) and gradient approach (n=1).  Gender or sex was assessed in eight out of 34 studies, socioeconomic status in ten studies, race/ethnicity in seven studies, age in seven studies, low and middle income countries in 14 studies, and two studies assessed multiple factors across health inequity may exist.Only three studies provided a definition of health equity. Four methodological approaches to assessing effects on health equity were identified: 1) descriptive assessment of reporting and analysis in systematic reviews (all 34 studies used a type of descriptive method); 2) descriptive assessment of reporting and analysis in original trials (12/34 studies); 3) analytic approaches (10/34 studies); and 4) applicability assessment (11/34 studies). Both analytic and applicability approaches were not reported transparently nor in sufficient detail to judge their credibility. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: There is a need for improvement in conceptual clarity about the definition of health equity, describing sufficient detail about analytic approaches (including subgroup analyses) and transparent reporting of judgments required for applicability assessments in order to assess and report effects on health equity in systematic reviews.

Report on the 6th African Society of Human Genetics (AfSHG) Meeting, March 12-15, 2009, Yaounde, Cameroon.

The African Society of Human Genetics (AfSHG), founded in 2003 with its inaugural meeting in Accra, Ghana,1 has the stated missions of (1) disseminating information about human genetics research in Africa, (2) establishing a mentorship network providing educational resources, including the development of appropriate technology transfer, (3) providing advocacy for human genetic research in Africa, and (4) encouraging collaborative research. Despite its young age, the AfSHG has developed a strong cadre of active researchers, both within and outside of Africa, with more than 400 members (from 16 countries across Africa as well as 8 other countries), and has held six successful meetings, five in Africa and one in the United States.

Coverage and accuracy of ethnicity data on three Asian ethnic groups in New Zealand.

OBJECTIVE: Detecting and eliminating ethnic disparities in access to and outcomes of healthcare relies on accurate ethnicity recording. Studies have shown that there are inaccuracies in ethnicity data in New Zealand and elsewhere. This study examined coverage and accuracy of ethnicity data for three Asian ethnic groups. METHODS: Student researchers from, or with links to, the ethnic groups concerned worked with communities to recruit participants. Names and dates of birth, length of residence in New Zealand and immigration status were recorded. Names and dates of birth were sent to the New Zealand Health Information Service, which attempted to link them with National Health Index ethnicity data. RESULTS: Only 72% of participants could be linked to an NHI number, and only 48% of those had their ethnicity recorded accurately. Linkage odds were lower for older people, and accuracy was higher for Chinese people compared to the other ethnicities. Length of residence and immigration status did not affect either coverage or accuracy. CONCLUSION: Most participants who could be linked had their ethnicity recorded in the broader category of "Asian", but accuracy was poor at the sub-group level. IMPLICATIONS: Extreme caution should be applied when examining data about sub-groups within the 'Asian' category.