A new medical resource has sparked conversations around the globe about racial bias in medical eduction and training resources.

Mind the Gap: A handbook of clinical signs in Black and Brown skin details the clinical presentations on skin of colour for more than 20 conditions. The book’s co-author, Malone Mukwende, a third year UK medical student, was inspired to create the resource after becoming acutely aware that students are taught to look for clinical signs of illness using images almost exclusively showing caucasian skin. It means many students will enter the profession not knowing how to identify certain conditions in people of colour – leading to compromised care from their first point of contact.

He says Mind the Gap is more than a handbook – it’s a movement for change.

In this episode Melbourne dermatologist and specialist in skin of colour, Dr Michelle Rodrigues, talks about the work being done in Australia to embrace a more inclusive medical curriculum – and what more needs to be done to improve standards of care for people of colour.