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The theme for the 2011 Multicultural Health Week was “Health Information in Your Language” which was chosen and agreed upon by all members of the MHW 2011 working party to showcase the outstanding multilingual resources available for CALD groups across NSW.
This year’s theme ‘Health Information in Your Language’ highlights the new partnership with the State Library of NSW whereby libraries are committed to store health information in community languages and with the aid of bilingual librarians, assist members of CALD communities to obtain information on a range of health subjects.
Key messages for Multicultural Health Week 2011 are:
- Nearly one in three residents of NSW was born overseas and around one in five speaks a language other than English
- To promote the MHW 2011 theme “Health Information In Your Language” across to all CALD communities in local health districts through the efforts of health and community workers and the valuable support of the ethnic media
- Ethnicity and language can impact on health status and service delivery
- There are services and resources available for NSW Health staff to help CALD communities increase their access to services
- To encourage members of CALD communities to make more use of their libraries to obtain information in their language regarding health matters
- To be aware that libraries in their area may have bilingual librarians to assist them and that the information printed material is available free of charge
- To engage language media to be a supportive tool in the development and sustainability of the project.
MHW 2011 provided a platform for engagement and participation with health services, local health districts, hospitals, health workers and CALD communities through state-wide and local initiatives and partnerships namely the State Library in NSW and Special Broadcast Services (SBS).
The partnership with the State Library of NSW has proved invaluable as it has extended the distribution of the multilingual health resources to all library users in the state and with the help of the continuing support of SBS, the key messages of MHW has been shared through their broadcast programs in over 60 languages.