Multicultural Program Update

Welcome to our first edition of the Multicultural Program Update for 2024, brought to you by the Cancer Institute NSW. Our quarterly e-news shares news about cancer prevention, screening, care, and research relevant to multicultural communities in NSW. 

We encourage you to share the e-news with interested colleagues and community; they can also sign up to the mailing list by emailing the multicultural team. You can find past editions here.

We would love to hear from you – please reach out if there is something you would like to know more about, or if you have feedback about our e-news. 

Harmony Week

The Cancer Institute celebrated Harmony Week with an esteemed guest speaker, Om Dhuggel. Om was instrumental in settling hundreds of Bhutanese refugees, and also dedicated many years to his work in Western Sydney supporting migrant and refugee communities. Om, who fled his home country Bhutan due to ethnic persecution, shared his story along with his positivity, gratitude, inner strength and belief in the good of people. His strong passion for a strength-based approach when working with people from refugee backgrounds also shone through his speech. To find our more about Om and his book ‘Bhutan to Blacktown’ click here

Project updates

Health planning data – Multicultural Data Explorer

Cancer Institute NSW recently launched a new interactive digital dashboard where you can analyse country of birth, language spoken, English proficiency, and indigenous status of people within a local health district, local government area, or suburb level (SA2) using 2021 Census data. People working in healthcare and beyond are encouraged to explore the tool when planning activities to help improve health outcomes for NSW’s culturally and linguistically diverse communities.  The dashboard can be found here.

Multicultural Demographics Data Explorer reports:

Report 1. Birthplace commentary and analysis: top countries of birth in NSW

Report 2. Language commentary and analysis: top languages used at home in NSW

Report 3. NSW local health districts: top 10 birthplace and language groups other than English

Report 4. NSW multicultural population summary profile

Guidance and notes on multicultural source data

Please share these valuable and time-saving resources with your networks.

NSW Primary Care Cancer Control Symposium 2024

The Cancer Institute NSW recently hosted the 2024 Primary Care Cancer Control Symposium, “Shared vision: lung cancer screening implementation”. The day brought together representatives from primary care, local health district staff, community organisations and other health service providers.

More than 100 people from across health settings and peak organisations came together at the symposium to discuss the importance of equity and cross-sector collaboration in delivering Australia’s new lung cancer screening program, which will be rolled out in mid-2025.

Delivering culturally safe and accessible models of care was a key theme of the day, with stakeholders representing multicultural communities highlighting a range of barriers to screening that need to be considered.  The need to consult with multicultural stakeholders during the design phase of the program was also noted. Click here to watch the recordings of the event.

Join the Lung Cancer Screening Consumer Committee

Lung Foundation Australia is seeking interest from members of the community - including those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds - to join the Lung Cancer Screening Consumer Committee. The committee will provide advice and feedback on resources, and communication materials that will support the roll out of the National Lung Cancer Screening Program. Click here to lodge an Expressions of Interest.

‘Every vape is a hit to your health' Anti-Vaping Campaign 2023–2024

Cancer Institute NSW is delivering a new campaign, ‘Every vape is a hit to your health’ to young people aged 14 to 24 in NSW. The campaign highlights the health harms and harmful ingredients in e-cigarettes (vapes).

The campaign is live until 30 June 2024 and connects young people to information about vaping and quit support including digital apps, Quitline telephone support, talking to their GP and behavioural quit strategies.

Resources:

For more information on vaping, young people can visit www.cancer.nsw.gov.au/vaping.

Watch the ‘Every vape is a hit to your health’ video with subtitles in Arabic, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Hindi, and Vietnamese.

Download assets from the vaping resources hub in Arabic, Bangla, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Dari, Hindi, Spanish, Swahili, Ukrainian and Vietnamese.

Shisha No Thanks and vaping

If you missed it, click here to watch the recent multicultural media online conference on vaping and shisha featuring guest speakers Professor Tracey O’Brien, NSW Chief Cancer Officer, and CEO of Cancer Institute NSW and Khaled Kamalmaz, psychologist and Health Services Coordinator at the Lebanese Muslim Association.

Resources:

Download  ‘No smoking means no vaping’ resources in Arabic, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Dari, Filipino, Hindi, Nepali, Spanish, Ukrainian and Vietnamese

Cancer support services for people from CALD backgrounds

The Cancer Institute NSW is proud to partner and support the work of non-government organisations that provide culturally appropriate and sensitive support for patients and carers affected by cancer. Click here to find out about some of these services.

Multilingual Resources

Cancer Institute NSW translated cancer resources for multicultural communities

This webpage brings all of the Institute’s multilingual resources together in one place. Here you can access information and resources in 43 languages on cancer prevention, screening, treatment, and clinical trials. The webpage also includes a number of resources from the Australian Government.

Resources from other organisations

National Cervical Screening program

How to collect your own sample available in 22 community languages

What happens when my healthcare provider collects my sample available in 22 community languages

How to collect your own sample – Easy Read available in 11 community languages

Understanding your cervical screening test results – Easy Read available in 12 community languages

Cervical screening test – your choices explained – Easy Read available in 22 community languages

South Western Sydney Local Health District

The Improving Patient and Carer Journey program supports CALD patients and carers to manage their stress and make well-informed decisions regarding their treatment and care options. This includes a brochure ‘Who do you need to speak to during your cancer treatment?’, a resource that helps people navigate the healthcare system and access appropriate services.

English, Arabic, Chinese Simplified, Vietnamese

South Eastern Sydney Local Health District

Take care of yourself and look out for others. The Multicultural Mindfulness audio resources and exercises offer an effective way for people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds to reduce stress, manage difficult emotions and improve their sense of wellbeing.  

Mindfulness audio tracks in Mandarin and Cantonese are now available. All in-language audio tracks can be accessed in English, Arabic, Bangla, Nepali, Spanish and Greek at the MHCS website. 

This initiative is led by South Eastern Sydney Local Health District with the support of the NSW Multicultural Health Communication Service and community partners as part of a broader program co-funded by the Central and Eastern Sydney Primary Health Network.

Upcoming Events

Free cancer screening and prevention in primary care webinar - 8 April, 7:30 PM - 8:30 PM (AEST)

The RACGP NSW&ACT Faculty and the Cancer Institute NSW are partnering in a one-hour webinar to educate health service delivery teams (general practitioners, practice nurses, practice managers and administration staff) on how to locally tailor and enhance cancer prevention and support participation in the national cancer screening programs. Register online.

New publications and reports

Yuill S, Egger S, Smith MA, Velentzis L, Saville M, Kliewer EV, Bateson D, Canfell K. Participation in the national cervical screening programme among women from New South Wales, Australia, by place of birth and time since immigration: A data linkage analysis using the 45 and up study. J Med Screen. 2024;31(1):35-45. doi: 10.1177/09691413231184334.

Leonard R, Paton J, Hinton P, Greenaway S, Thomson J. The end-of-life needs of Aboriginal and immigrant communities: a challenge to conventional medical models. Front Public Health. 2023;11:1161267. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1161267.

Pal A, Smith B, Allan C, Karikios D, Boyle F. Improving Access to Cancer Clinical Trials for Patients From Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Backgrounds in Australia: A Survey of Clinical and Research Professionals. JCO Oncol Pract. 2023; 19(11):1039-1047. doi: 10.1200/OP.23.00291.

Chauhan A, Newman B, Manias E, Joseph K, Leone D, Walpola RL, Seale H, Smith AB, Harrison R. Creating safer cancer care with ethnic minority patients: A qualitative analysis of the experiences of cancer service staff. J Health Expectations. 2024;27(1):e13979. doi: 10.1111/hex.13979

Gertig D, Lee J. Supporting health care providers in cancer screening: the role of the National Cancer Screening Register. Med J Aust. 2023;219(3):94-98. doi: 10.5694/mja2.52029.

Nickel B, Armiger J, Saunders C, Vincent W, Dodd RH, Temple A, Bhola N, Verde A, Houssami N. "I haven't had that information, even though I think I'm really well-informed about most things": a qualitative focus group study on Australian women's understanding and views of potentially modifiable risk factors for breast cancer. BMC Womens Health. 2023;23(1):211. doi: 10.1186/s12905-023-02363-7.

Ioannides SJ, Hess I, Lamberton C, Luisi B, Gupta L. Engaging with culturally and linguistically diverse communities during a COVID-19 outbreak: a NSW Health interagency public health campaign. Public Health Res Pract. 2023;33(3):32342215. doi: 10.17061/phrp32232215.

We encourage you to share the e-news with interested colleagues and community; they can also sign up to the mailing list by emailing the multicultural team. You can also find past editions here.

We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which the Cancer Institute NSW offices reside on, the Cammeraygal (Gammaraygal) people. 

We pay our respect to these Elders past and present. We also acknowledge the strength and identity of all Aboriginal people.

If you received this email and wish to unsubscribe please email  CINSW-Multicultural@health.nsw.gov.au.