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COVID-19 advice translated into 15 languages
Information is now available through healthdirect in a variety of commonly spoken languages covering multiple aspects of managing the disease.
Researchers suggest a failure to engage with the CALD community can place individuals at risk.
New resources have been published by healthdirect to help culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities access support if they have COVID-19.
The public health information and advice organisation launched new translations this week in languages including Chinese, Arabic and Vietnamese.
Information covered includes details on testing, what to do if a household contact gets COVID, steps to take following a positive COVID test, isolation advice, symptoms and their treatment, support for getting essential supplies, as well as recovery and protection advice.
‘With COVID-19 still prevalent in our communities, it is important for essential health advice to be accessible to everyone,’ healthdirect Australia Chief Medical Officer Dr Nirvana Luckraj said.
‘Access to health information in your own language on what to do to help prevent the spread of the virus is critically important as the virus continues to evolve.’
The launch of the new resources took place coincidentally in the same week that Flinders University highlighted research published in the Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare considering pandemic communication among CALD communities.
The article focused in particular on the burden on older members of CALD communities.
‘Failure to engage effectively with the CALD community not only places individual members of that community at risk, but also places the entire CALD community at risk because of misunderstanding and non-compliance,’ the researchers said.
‘It is imperative to put in place strategies that address the specific needs of all sections of the community and to provide advice in a context, format and language that is readily understood.’
The issue of timely and accessible guidance for CALD communities has previously been covered by newsGP around COVID-19 vaccine information, with out-of-date advice published on the Department of Health website at the height of the vaccine rollout.
The full list of languages available for the healthdirect COVID-19 resources includes: Arabic, Bengali, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Filipino, Greek , Hindi, Italian, Khmer, Korean, Punjabi, Serbian, Spanish, Turkish, and Vietnamese.
See the translated resources on the healthdirect website.
The RACGP’s COVID-19 resources includes information relevant for every state and territory.
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