This week the VCCC Alliance convened a special Roundtable of stakeholders keen to improve the quality and quantity of health service data about culturally and linguistically diverse people in our community.
Without this information, it’s difficult to identify and direct resources to those most in need, meaning that people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities likely experience poorer outcomes due to lack of access to diagnosis, treatment and care.
Participants heard lessons from the journey to obtain better data on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities from Associate Professor Kalinda Griffiths, while Associate Professor Liz Allen from ANU explained how our current race-based classification system does not allow us to capture the reality of contemporary multicultural Australia. Heather Swanston from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare set out promising initiatives for improvement.
The session was informative, energising and motivating, leaving participants with a range of actionable interventions to consider. VCCC Alliance’s Health Equity team will continue to work with stakeholders to progress work on data collection, with the ultimate goal to improve cancer service access, treatment and care for culturally and linguistically diverse people in the community.
Participants included representatives from all VCCC Alliance member health services, the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Victorian Cancer Registry, Integrated Cancer Services, and the Victorian Department of Health.
