Calls for healthcare system to better meet the needs of migrant women

Migrant women can face an extra set of challenges when trying to access health services.

Shifts in migration patterns have changed the requirements of the health care system.

More women than ever before are migrating to Australia alone, either as refugees or skilled workers, and this demographic have special requirements for healthcare.

Multicultural organisations want to empower them to access adequate healthcare and put themselves first.

Foster mum Sina Chohaili has welcomed more than 200 children into her home since she arrived in Australia 23 years ago, but looking after her own health hasn’t been easy.

Financial difficulties have seen her trade free Arabic lessons for massages, in lieu of the physiotherapy she requires.

“I need to have health insurance and I couldn’t pay anymore, so I stopped it for a while,” she told SBS World News.

“I love to be a carer, but I need something to help me out [for] me to continue this work.”

Many migrant women are in a similar predicament.

Michael Camit from the New South Wales Multicultural Health Communication Service said he believes the issue is “not just about money, it's how we use resources and funding”.

Advocates say women can’t preserve their health without knowing their basic rights.

According to the organisation Asian Women at Work, the government should crack down on workplace exploitation to protect women’s physical and mental health.

“A lot of [migrants] arrive and they need to put food on the table, so they end up in jobs that have low pay and poor working conditions,” representative Lina Cabaero Ponnambalam said.

Language is identified as a key barrier to accessing care – a third of women in New South Wales don’t speak English at home.

The NSW Multiculturalism Minister, Raymond Williams, declared: “We need to ensure they can access the appropriate health needs, the appropriate services and the appropriate support, so language is not a barrier.

“I'd be appalled if anyone was taking advantage of any culturally diverse people in the workplace and I don't think we as a government would stand for that.”