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Track
1-1b
Management
Ethnic Affairs Policy and Program
Developments in the New South Wales Public Health System
This presentation will focus on the development of ethnic
affairs as an area of social policy and the developments of health policies
and programs that target people from non-English speaking backgrounds
living in NSW. This presentation:
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will provide a brief historical perspective of immigration
to Australia and health service development in NSW;
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will highlight the NSW Government’s current response
in providing appropriate health services; and
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will identify the future directions of multicultural
health within the NSW public health system.
Australia, like many other Western nations is a country
that has developed as a result of an extensive immigration program. Between
1947 — 1996 the number of people born overseas living in Australia
has increased from 9.8% to over 25% of the total population. How has the
New South Wales government managed the health of immigrants. Experiences
in pre-migration, migration and post migration; lack of fluency in English;
socio-economic disadvantage and employment impinge on health.
Since the 1970’s there has been major reform in this area
of social policy. The NSW Government implemented government policies and
programs and more recently legislation that mandate government agencies
to target service provision to people from non-English speaking backgrounds.
How effective have these been? The health system has responded by
investing over $20m into developing specific programs and services that
target people from non-English speaking backgrounds, these include the
NSW Health Care Interpreter Service, the Ethnic Health Worker Program,
bilingual counselor program and the newly established Refugee Health Unit.
How can we determine that we have improved the health of people
from non-English speaking background? How can we get the universal health
system, which employs over 100,000 people; provides over 30,000,000 occasions
of service per year and whose primary focus is to provide a cost effective
clinical health service incorporate ethnic affairs into its core business?
These are the underlying questions in determining the future directions
of the NSW Ethnic Health program 2000 — 2005.
George Totidis
Senior Policy Analyst, Health Services Policy
NSW Department of Health
LMB 961
North Sydney NSW AUSTRALIA
Tel: 612 9391 9508
Fax: 612 9391 9615
gtoti@doh.health.nsw.gov.au
Areas of Responsibility:
- Statewide coordination of multicultural health issues/programs
- Ethnic Affairs and multicultural health policy advisor to the Minister
for Health and Executive of NSW Health.
- Develop key policies and strategies, targeting people from non-English
speaking backgrounds for implementation within the NSW Health system
- Health representative on various interdepartmental committees on migrant
services
- Departmental responsibility for monitoring and reporting on ethnic
affairs programs to key government agencies, including The Cabinet Office
and the Ethnic Affairs Commission of NSW.
- Chair, Sydney 2000 Olympic Medical Interpreter Service Program. NEXT >
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