Join us for the launch of Healthy Horizons

November 8, 2022

A Message from our Chair

Dr Vijay Roach

While there were few announcements related to targeted funding for migrant and refugee health in the October Federal Budget 2022-23, there have been encouraging signs regarding lessons learnt over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic in relation to the need for ongoing, health system-wide responses to the needs of migrant and refugee communities. The budget has demonstrated a promising shift to better reflect the multicultural nature of Australian society, including through increased funding and renewed commitments to consultation and understanding barriers to health and social equity among First Nations and migrant and refugee communities, women in particular.

The Migrant and Refugee Health Partnership’s role (via its auspicing body, the Social Policy Group) on the Department of Health and Aged Care’s Culturally and Linguistically Diverse COVID-19 Vaccination Advisory Group has been demonstrative of this shift towards improved community engagement, and discussions are underway as to how this model can adapt moving forward to address other health priorities, such as preventive health.

I’ve been reflecting on our dominant Australian narrative. Europeans arrived in Australia with no invitation, assumed sovereignty, despite the fact that it was never ceded, failed to recognise First Nations people and culture and disenfranchised an entire civilisation. These are facts that are yet to be fully acknowledged, an irony that is spoken of, but not addressed. This stain on Australian history will continue to hold us back until we have the courage to own it, and to make amends. All non-Indigenous Australians must accept that we are all migrants, all seeking refuge, a better life, a new beginning.

It's time to change the narrative to one of welcome and inclusion. “Thank you for coming to Australia. We’re so glad that you’re here. We need you and our country is better because you are here. How can we help?”. We need to celebrate Diwali, Chinese New Year and Eid. We need to recognise that skills, values and social norms are not the sole purview of the dominant culture. Imagine music with just one beat, food with just one taste, a picture with just one colour. Imagine if all accents were the same, if we all looked the same, if we didn’t need to go through a process of listening and understanding, growing and learning. Equity and inclusion are not just about letting the other person in. It’s about creating an opportunity for ourselves, and for society as a whole.

Healthy Horizons: Join us for the online launch event on Monday 14th November

Harmony Alliance, the Migrant and Refugee Health Partnership, and The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG) are pleased to announce the launch of the Healthy Horizons website.

Women from migrant and refugee backgrounds face many barriers to accessing health care in Australia. These barriers can include lower levels of health and health system literacy. Healthy Horizons has been developed in consultation with women from migrant and refugee backgrounds and covers the issues that matter to diverse women at every life stage.

Join our panel of experts online on Monday 14th November 11am-12pm (Canberra time) for the official launch and a discussion with:

The Hon. Ged Kearney MP, Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care
Ms Celia Street, First Assistant Secretary: Population Health Division
Dr Nisha Khot, OBGYN and RANZCOG Chair of Gender Equity & Diversity Working Group
Chiedza Malunga, Monash Health: Refugee Health and Wellbeing
Vase Jovanoska, RANZCOG CEO will be facilitating the discussion.

Don't miss out! RSVP through our EventBrite here.

Refugee and Migrant Health: Global Competency Standards for Health Workers

The Refugee and Migrant Health: Global Competency Standards for health workers (the Standards) were developed in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO) to promote culturally responsive health practices through a competency-based framework. These Standards are designed to be flexible to the context of the healthcare practitioner.

Following the creation of the Standards, the WHO worked closely with the Partnership to develop Knowledge and Curriculum Guides to support health educators and workers to apply best practice standards of care. You can read all of these documents on the WHO portal here: The Standards. 

The Migrant and Refugee Health Partnership continues to collaborate with the WHO to support the adaptation and application of the Standards in various settings across the globe.

Policy and Academic Papers

Handbook of Refugee Health

The Handbook of Refugee Health provides a framework to identify and approach health needs, from basic elements like service mapping and initial interventions to more complex elements of ongoing healthcare. It also discusses associated areas, including human rights and law, public health, medical anthropology, and cultural awareness.

You can access the Handbook of Refugee Health here.

Self-Efficacy as an Enabler of Settlement

The Centre for Settlement Innovation recently released their Report on Self Efficacy as an Enabler of Settlement. The Report highlights the role that health and wellbeing plays in a person's ability to successfully navigate their settlement journey.

Minister Andrew Giles launched the paper in Canberra at the Settlement Engagement Transition Support (SETS) Community of Practice (CoP) Forum 2022, while praising the efforts of the settlement sector during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. You can access the report online.

Reporting on the Health of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Populations in Australia: An Exploratory Paper

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has released a report, which explores the advantages and challenges of using linked data to report on the health of CALD populations. It particularly examines the difficulty in qualifying or labelling terms like 'culture', 'ethnicity', 'race', 'language', and 'dialect,' and whether we should seek to standardise how we collect data on diversity.

Calls for Submissions, Collaboration, or Expressions of Interest

The Partnership welcomes contributions from health professionals and people with lived experience who are interested in our current projects. Let us know if you would like to collaborate with us: secretariat@culturaldiversityhealth.org.au.

Our current projects include:

• Experiences of telehealth for migrant and refugee communities.
• Awareness of the factors that contribute to stillbirth. We wish to talk to CALD individuals who have given birth, experienced stillbirth, are planning a pregnancy, or are supporting a pregnant person.