Season’s Greetings from the MHCS team.
On December 2, 2019 the NSW Multicultural Health Communication Service (MHCS) Strategic Priorities 2019-2023 plan was launched at the State Library of New South Wales. Mr Tobi Wilson, Chief Executive, South Eastern Sydney Local Health District officially launched the plan. A beautiful welcome to country from Aunty Ann Weldon, Metropolitan Aboriginal Land Council, opened the event with great insights on multicultural health communication provided by our key speakers:

- Tish Bruce, Executive Director, Health and Social Policy Branch, NSW Ministry of Health
- Lisa Woodland, Director, MHCS
- John Vallance, State Librarian, State Library of NSW
- Viji Dhayanathan, Consumer representative, Board Member, Pink Sari Inc. and Tamil Women's Development Group
- Master of Ceremonies Jesusa Helaratne, MHCS Coordinator and Media Manager 

Special guests included Mr Tony Jackson, A/Director, Primary Integrated and Community Health, SESLHD; members of the Multicultural Health Services across local health districts; representatives from the NSW Ministry of Health, health partners, community organisations as well as media.

The launch of the MHCS Strategic Priorities 2019-2023 plan highlighted the focus on strengthening the capacity of health services and programs to effectively and appropriately communicate with people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities through targeted activities. The full MHCS strategic plan and overview video is now available on the new website. 

As part of the MHCS Strategic Priorities 2019-2023 plan, we have revamped our website to improve functionality of the multilingual health information database. More than 400 resources including audio, video and PDFs in 60 languages are hosted on the MHCS webserver. Key functionality added to our new website includes:

1. Easy online registration for linking or uploading your multilingual health resources.

2. Improved search functionality allows cross-referenced filters such as: Topic, Language and Type of resources. Indexed external resources via the MHCS publication page gives culturally and linguistically diverse communities access to even more health resources in their language.

3. Hosting an expanded range of health resources including PDFs, Audio and Video resources.

4. Sharing internal health resources and tools with health professionals within NSW Health. Register your health email address your.name@health.nsw.gov.au on the MHCS website. Once you’ve registered and logged in, visit the internal health staff tools and resources.

5. Feedback form: If you find any resources with a broken link, you can report it to us by clicking on “report broken link” 
 

Our MHCS team members recently presented campaigns on Mental Health Literacy and FGM awareness programs at the Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia’s biennial conference. MHCS Coordinator and Media Manager, Jesusa Helaratne presented on the Dear Mum - Stop FGM in Your Generation campaign by MHCS in partnership with the NSW Education Program.

MHCS Communication and Marketing Manager, Michael Camit and Devaki Monani from Charles Darwin University presented on the South Asian Women Mental Health Literacy Project, which was commissioned in partnership with the Mental Health Commission. Find more information in the report.

Shisha No Thanks Project Bilingual Factsheets on the Harms of Water Pipe Smoking

Shisha No Thanks factsheets are available in English and Arabic to provide community members and health care professionals with information on the harms of smoking shisha (waterpipe). These resources highlight the impact of shisha smoking on Young People, Pregnant Women and Young Families, and the broader community. There is also a fact sheet for health professionals.

The Shisha No Thanks project is led by Multicultural Health Service, SESLHD in partnership with the Lebanese Muslim Association, MHCS, Sydney Local Health District and South Western Sydney Local Health District. The project is funded by Cancer Institute NSW.

CALD Assist App for use in Health Care 

CALD Assist is an iPad app developed by CSIRO’s Australian eHealth Research Centre and Western Health, Victoria. The app is available in 11 languages to assist with simple routine communication. It is an adjunct to using professional interpreters in health settings. Use of the app is supported by NSW Health as it has been developed using professional translators and interpreters. MHCS and partners are currently exploring opportunities to expand the number of languages available through the app. The app can be downloaded for free through the App store. For more information, please contact MHCS Systems Manager, Rajan Manickarajah.

Culturally Diverse Support Groups for Women with Cancer

The Bankstown Women’s Health Centre and Fairfield Women’s Health Service, supported by Cancer Institute NSW, are offering culturally-sensitive, safe and supportive weekly groups for women with cancer, as well as their carers and family members.

Multilingual HIV resource: HIV. What you need to know. 

A new multilingual HIV booklet is available in eight languages produced by Multicultural HIV and Hepatitis Service: HIV. What you need to know. This free booklet provides the most up-to-date information on HIV prevention, testing and treatment in NSW.

Expanded Healthy Beginnings in Arabic and Mandarin-speaking communities

More than 150 Mandarin and Arabic-speaking women participated in the Healthy Beginnings pilot program led by Sydney Local Health District’s health promotion team which offered women expert help to look after their newborn. The information was provided in eight in-language booklets, phone calls from bilingual Child and Family Health Nurses and text messages during the third trimester and the early stages of their baby’s development. Learn more about the expanding program at the Healthy Beginnings website.

31 Dec 2019: NAATI's certification system applications for transition are open until 31 December 2019. More details for Accredited Translators and Interpreters who want to transition can be found on the NAATI website.

31 Dec 2019: Advancing The Evidence: Migrant Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Conference will be held at Novotel Melbourne on 27-28 February 2020. The conference invites researchers, general, clinical and community practitioners, policy makers and advocates. Early bird tickets are available until 31 December 2019.

10 Jan 2020: The 3rd Advancing Community Cohesion Conference - The Way Forward, will be held at Western Sydney University on 10-13 February 2020. It will provide leaders with the opportunity to discuss challenges confronting social cohesion and community resilience. Early bird registrations are open until 10 January 2020.

20 Apr 2020: Submissions have been extended to April 2020 for the Royal Commission into Aged Care. FECCA has developed an additional multilingual toolkit to assist non-English speakers to submit feedback. 

NSW Multicultural Health Communication Service
LMB 5003 Buildling 41 Gladesville Hospital
Punt Road Gladesville NSW 2111
Website: http://www.mhcs.health.nsw.gov.au/
Email: seslhd-mhcs@health.nsw.gov.au

This newsletter is distributed to all our stakeholders, health workers and general public who requested to be in our mailing list.
If you want more information about our privacy policy, please visit this page:
https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/pages/privacy.aspx 

.