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Multicultural Health Week is an important annual event that raises awareness about the health needs of people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds. The Week also provides the opportunity to promote the existing multicultural services for multicultural communities as well as available free multilingual health resources.
The theme for Multicultural Health Week 2014 was “Healthy Workers” with a focus on the health of workers urging them to make lifestyle changes, such as eat healthily, increase physical activity and achieve weight loss to help prevent or delay the progression of chronic diseases.
“Healthy Workers” was inspired from the Get Healthy at Work program, a NSW Government initiative that aims to help improve the health of working adults. The key messages for Multicultural Health Week 2014 targeted all workers encouraging them to be more active, eat healthy and be smoke free at work.
The celebration of Multicultural Health Week 2014 included a variety of events and distribution of resources showcasing the theme. The major activities included a media launch with the Hon. Jillian Skinnner, Minister for Health and Minister for Medical Research and community functions for media and community members organised by partner organisations Arab Council Australia (ACA), Chinese Australian Services Society (CASS) and Vietnamese-Australian Welfare Association (VAWA).
Promotional tools for the week were composed of a dedicated Multicultural Health Week website, posters, information flyers and multilingual resources as well as community radio, print, television and online advertisements in Arabic, Chinese and Vietnamese highlighting practical information for workers.
Outdoor banners with the Multicultural Health Week Logo and website, translated into Arabic, Chinese and Vietnamese were displayed at selected councils including Blacktown, Auburn and Hurstville.
The Multicultural Health Services in NSW also held exciting interactive activities and educational sessions for their workers and communities, which were much talked about and appreciated in their Local Health Districts.