Migrants' expertise a key factor in improving health and wellbeing services of multicultural Australia

"We wanted people with lived experience to share their experiences and insights on how they access Australia's health system and discuss ways to better improve them," the Federation of Ethnic Communities' Council of Australia (FECCA) chief executive officer Mary Ann Geronimo points out.

The two-day inaugural Multicultural Health and Wellbeing Conference recently held in Sydney is aimed at opening dialogue and opportunities for discussions in finding ways to improve access to health and wellbeing services for Australia’s multicultural population. Credit: SBS Filipino/Annalyn Violata

Key Points

• The first National Multicultural Health and Wellbeing Conference was held in Sydney on 21-22 November.
• The conference, attended by around 500 delegates aims to find ways to improve Australia's health system.
• The Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Council of Australia (FECCA) and the Australian Multicultural Health Collaborative (The Collaborative) co-hosted the event.

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Multicultural health conference discusses measures to improve Australia's multicultural health

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In a first-of-its-kind, the National Multicultural Health and Wellbeing Conference held in Sydney tries to find ways to improve the health system of Australia for its culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities.

Members of the CALD population, including Filipinos, have roles to play in addressing health challenges, reviewing best practices and exploring better access to the country's health and wellbeing services.

'We have a lot of migrants in Australia who have expertise in health care and we want communities to make good representations of themselves, to be able to properly address issues relating to the health system and make changes.' Credit: SBS Filipino/Annalyn Violata

A large number of migrants are calling Australia home now. Over three million permanent migrants in the country arrived since 2000 according to the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics census.

In an interview with SBS Filipino, Mary Ann Geronimo who started her role with FECCA in September 2023, emphasises that a big percentage of Australia's population are migrants.

"That includes a huge number of Filipinos, who are among the top 5 in terms of population," Geronimo says.

FECCA CEO Mary Ann Geronimo. Credit: SBS Filipino

"We know that there are a lot of Filipinos working in the healthcare sector. When you enter an emergency department, you will see a lot of Filipinos, even in aged care."

"This is really critical because, in that overall picture, they are not seen as a big group that also needs health support. People are becoming invisible just because we do not hear them."

Ms Geronimo, who has an extensive background in Public Policy, reiterates that "only when we speak out that is when people listen to us and able to find solutions to our concerns".

"Be part of the discussions, to really add to knowledge and governments listening to us and understanding about our experiences, and seek solutions to problems and take actions."