The first textbook on anti-racist healthcare for medical students and healthcare professionals was launched in Parliament on Monday (20/04). The textbook, titled Anti-Racist Medicine, offers a “blueprint” for students and medical staff who serve ethnically diverse populations, according to Dr Seshan Qureshi, who co-led the project.

Qureshi, an NHS doctor and philosopher, is currently conducting a PhD at the University of Cambridge exploring how race and ethnicity are essential factors in understanding and improving healthcare outcomes in the UK.

Qureshi said: “The NHS England constitution, in its first principle, says that it has a duty ‘to pay particular attention to groups where improvements in health and life expectancy are not keeping pace with the rest of the population’. Sadly, the NHS is still failing ethnic minorities, 75 years after it promised care for all.”

While the NHS was founded on a principle of universal access, Qureshi’s work aims to highlight that equal access to healthcare in Britain is “an ideal rather than a reality”.

The textbook draws upon a range of data and case studies that show how ethnicity impacts the type of health issues patients experience, how patients are treated, and the medical professionals who treat them.

Qureshi said: “Racism affects how diseases are understood, how patients are treated, who progresses in medical careers, and whose data counts. Racism infiltrates every aspect of medicine.

“From sickle cell disease and maternal mortality to mental health and psychosis diagnoses, many areas of medicine cannot be understood or fixed without confronting racism head-on,” Qureshi said. “This includes disparities in medical career progression.”

The book explores key areas of racial disparity in the medical treatment patients receive, including maternity and mental health. Studies cited by Qureshi show that Black women in England are more than twice as likely to die in childbirth than white women, while infant mortality rates for Black children are two times higher than for white children.

Qureshi argued that the current ‘race-blind’ approach is not enough to ensure equity in healthcare, and that medical practice must instead become actively anti-racist.

Further research cited in the book identifies several shortcomings in medical provision for minority groups, such as the treatment and prevention of Type 2 diabetes. South Asian and Black patients are between two and six times more likely to suffer from the condition than white patients, the research reveals.

The textbook makes several recommendations to help improve equity in healthcare, such as reducing inequalities in data collection. With the implemented use of newly-developing technologies including artificial intelligence, which are modelled on existing datasets, Qureshi claimed it is more likely than ever that racial biases will be reinforced.

The book also recommends reforms around professional regulation, medical courses that aim to improve “cultural humility” and understanding of experiences of patients from diverse backgrounds, more support for international medical graduates, and safeguards against bias in digital health.

Qureshi added: “Anti‑racist medicine is not about lowering standards or favouring one group over another, it is about removing barriers that worsen outcomes for patients and professionals alike.”

Qureshi and his colleagues stated they had a “vision for anti-racist medicine across the domains of leadership, education, workforce, clinical care, research, and technology”.

Quershi continued: “The NHS was founded on fairness, a principle that the British public holds dear. Anti-racist medicine is at the heart of ensuring this promise is honoured.”