ABSTRACT
This chapter is the first exploring specific NHS priorities as defined by National Service Frameworks. Here the focus is one specific health condition: heart disease. The chapter presents empirical material to explore reasons for the higher rate of heart disease among South Asian populations. In doing so it provides a valuable evidence base for those working in primary care. More generally, and bearing in mind Stephen Harrisons concern about the development of services based on specific diseases at the expense of engaging with broader issues of equity, this chapter attempts to locate the experience of South Asian populations within the broader context of ethnicity and health. In doing so, it develops two themes identified in Chapter 2 as relevant to understanding the experience of South Asian people: the importance of not treating South Asian populations as a homogenous group and the value of considering ethnicity within the broader context of socio economic disadvantage.
