MINA

Project overview

MINA was a three year NDA research project which addressed ageing, migration, and nutrition across two generations of Bangladeshi women.

The Bangladeshi population is one of the fastest growing ethnic groups within the UK, and are amongst the most socially disadvantaged. They have poorer self-reported and measured health status indicated by higher rates of disability, centralised obesity and chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Older Bangladeshi women are particularly affected as they play a lead role in caretaking for multiple generations within relatively large extended families and many struggle to cope with the complex challenges of ageing, poverty, racism, and social exclusion.

The MINA interdisciplinary research team comprised partners from eight disciplines and universities:

• Public health nutrition and exercise (Janice Thompson, Bristol)

• Public health nursing (Joy Merrell, Swansea)

• Biological anthropology (Barry Bogin, Loughborough)

• Health psychology (Petra Meier, Sheffield)

• Ethnobotany (Michael Heinrich, London)

• Environmental and media design (Vanja Garaj, Brunel)

• Migration and social anthropology (Katy Gardner, Sussex)

• Social gerontology (Christina Victor, Reading)

Additional MINA partners included researchers at the University of Dhaka in Bangladesh, the NGO Jubo Academy and local UK Black and minority ethnic (BME) organisations.

Findings

Migration, Nutrition and Ageing Across the Lifecourse in Bangladeshi Families: A Transnational Perspective (MINA) (PDF, 6.7MB)

View all project findings.

Further information

For more information, read the full project details.