Apnee Sehat
Ready,
steady, cook! The entrancing aromas of spices carries the promise of
mouth-watering dishes but also brings alive a health message that needs to be
served in as many ways as possible. 
The cookery sessions, promoting alternative ways of preparing traditional dishes, are just part of an imaginative project to engage the UK's south Asian communities who suffer high rates of diabetes, strokes and heart disease.
Apnee Sehat, which means ‘Our Health' in Punjabi and Hindu, is committed to breaking down the barriers that are locking south Asians into unhealthy and potentially lethal lifestyles. The community is suffers premature diabetes at four times the national average.
It cuts through the complex cultural and social factors to tackle the alarming risk factors.
Its innovative approach includes DVDs called Essence of Life where the drama crystalises the dangers of ignorance and the positive benefits of a healthy lifestyle in engaging productions.
Founded in 2005 by Dr Shirine Boardman, consultant diabetologist at Warwick Hospital, in response to the growing rates of CVD, diabetes and strokes among the community, Apnee Sehat has pioneered a programme of health screening, education and practical advice that connects with the people that traditional methods struggle to reach.
"We aim to get the message of a healthier lifestyle across to groups that are hard to reach within the south Asian community," says project manager Mini Mangat (pictured above with colleague Sue Cresswell). "There are language and culture barriers that have prevented them getting the sort of information that can lead to easy lifestyle changes that improve their health.
"This is about understanding and being sensitive to different South Asian user groups."
Apnee Sehat launched in Leamington Spa with the support of Warwick Medical School and had instant success by taking educational courses to mosques, temples, and community centres and holding health fairs at religious festivals to overcome a natural reluctance to visit GP surgeries. The lively cookery classes are just one graphic example of a practical approach that has proved so effective that the award-winning social enterprise has been commissioned to use the template in a deprived area of Coventry.
It also runs education classes and supermarket trips to provide healthy eating shopping tips tailored towards the South Asian diet. The first Apnee Sehat community clinic was established last year.
Its prime aims are to assess the risks from high blood pressure, diabetes, lack of healthy eating knowledge and to educate the community while promoting self-care. The results are vital in evaluating the impact of a fresh approach to a problem that has a disturbing prognosis.
The work is crucial in establishing self-care routines to minimise risks and reduce the burden of heart and vascular operations on the NHS.
The numbers demand urgent attention. South Asians have a 50 per cent higher risk of cardiovascular disease. A pilot study released last year reported that 45.5 per cent of those screened had a high level of cholesterol.
A study in Foleshill, Coventry - where Apnee Sehat's latest venture was launched by a Prince Charles visit - mirrors the national statistics with 72 per cent of participants, screened in a nine month period to March 2009, having abnormal results including high measurements in blood pressure, blood sugar levels and cholesterol.
An independent evaluation by the University or Warwick is monitoring the impact Apnee Sehat's work is having on this high risk community to maximise the benefits from the initiative.
"There is a high prevalence of diabetes among south Asians and, in many cases, their lifestyles need to be improved. They cook with a lot of butter and ghee which is not good for cholesterol and cardiovascular problems but, rather than tell them to stop cooking, we show them alternatives," adds Mini.
"The cookery courses are always good because we are baking samosas rather than frying them; making rice pudding with skimmed milk and Canderel or Splendor rather than full fat and conventional sugars. We do tasting sessions and most people are amazed the dishes taste so good.
"The big problem is that we are dealing with a culture where food is very important and ceremonial. We fry samosas and bring out the sweets when someone is born, when someone dies and when someone gets married we are eating for a week!
"These groups don't necessarily access information like others and they are loathe to visit the doctors so we have to take the healthier lifestyle message out to the mosques and the temples and the results are very impressive. It is very rewarding to get the message across because controlling diabetes and improving a lifestyle can prolong someone's life."
Apnee Sehat, which began with a Pathfinder grant from the Department of Health's Social Enterprise Unit, has been commissioned by Coventry's Primary Care Trust as a prime weapon to help reduce cardiovascular disease by 40 per cent. Early work has lead to 91 per cent of 331 people screened making lifestyle changes.
Apnee Sehat been nominated for six national awards for its work in community healthcare and for communicating with hard-to-reach groups and last year received a prestigious award for healthcare innovation.
The organisation, which has one full time, eight part-time members of staff as well as volunteer medical student support, is hoping that its assessment-education-evaluation model can become a social enterprise franchise around the country offering local help and responding to the input of local communities.
"We have proved we can get the message across and encourage people to make those little lifestyle changes that mean so much," says Mini. "But this needs to have the support of local GPS and be delivered in response to local needs which is why the franchise idea works well - it gets the right help to the people that need it most."