The number of flu cases in Australia is soaring, with several states making flu shots free and urging people to get jabbed.
But multicultural advocates, such as Mohammad Al-Khafaji – CEO of the Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia (FECCA), are concerned health messaging may not be reaching Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities.
"Health messages from government all across Australia need to improve," Mr Al-Khafaji told SBS News.
"We need to make sure that [multicultural] communities understand the different nature of the flu season this time round.
"We need to encourage everybody to get vaccinated — not just for COVID-19, but for influenza, too, because we know it could be just as dangerous for these communities."
Data from the Department of Health shows Australia has recorded more than 38,000 flu cases this year. About 70 per cent of those cases (more than 26,000) were reported in just a two-week period this month – from 9-22 May.
Chris Moy – vice-president of the Australian Medical Association – says that’s a small sample of the full scale of infection because flu testing and reporting of positive cases is not mandatory, so most infections are not getting recorded.
The surge in the number of new cases has reached such a level that five states – Queensland, NSW, Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia – have made flu vaccination free.
“[The state-run health departments] are really worried. There are thousands of people in hospital with COVID-19 that we can’t get overrun by flu at the same time,” Dr Moy told SBS News.
“Which is why the state governments have made this decision to try [to] minimise the chance that flu also becomes an added problem that will completely overwhelm our hospitals,” he said.
But are the urgent calls to get vaccinated for the flu reaching the CALD communities?
Mr Al-Khafaji said while a lot of commendable work has been done in this space, a lot more needs to be done.
“Some multicultural communities and some newly arrived refugee communities are not getting the critical health information they need,” Mr Al-Khafaji said.
“We know that because we have seen the devastating effect that COVID has had on them, whether it was the Melbourne Towers or the situation that was unfolding in western Sydney.
“So we know governments need to step up and need to really understand what went wrong and make sure that we have systems and processes in place to engage with those communities,” he said.
Rita Prasad-Ildes is the managing director of World Wellness Group, a Brisbane-based multicultural health clinic with clients from more than 145 ethnicities.
Ms Prasad-Ildes said even after more than two years of COVID-19 there’s a lot of misinformation among multicultural communities about infections such as the flu.
“People are not getting their messaging from Australian government sources. A lot of it is really through social media [as well as] information from their countries of origin and, of course, that may not be relevant,” Ms Prasad-Ildes told SBS News.
During the COVID-19 outbreak, FECCA called on the Department of Health to establish the CALD COVID-19 Health Advisory Group.
“It brought people from the multicultural health sector together to provide advice and guidance to the Department of Health around the shaping of the messages,” Mr Al-Khafaji said.
“That structure has worked really well in terms of providing advice and strategy. What we need to do now is to make sure that structure is duplicated in all states and territories.”
According to Mr Al-Khafaji, the federal and health departments need to forge close partnerships with multicultural communities across the country.
“A lot of people are getting bombarded with health messages from everywhere. But what we have found is: People will listen to people who they trust, which is often doctors from within their communities, or community leaders from within their communities,” he said.
Ms Prasad-Ildes said even the way in which messages are communicated needs work.
“Sometimes the way the translations are done, it’s not very clear,” she said.
Mr Al-Khafaji said the messaging should also be culturally sensitive.
“We need to ensure that culturally appropriate messages are delivered in a culturally appropriate way,” he said.
“For example, there are communities that may believe that vaccines are not religiously appropriate or they may have this misunderstanding that catching COVID-19 is natural.
“So we need to be careful around how we explain and how we deliver the facts that are sensitive to people’s cultures and faith without offending them, but also present an alternative view that they understand to change those people’s minds.”
Following the success of the CALD COVID-19 Health Advisory Group, FECCA is calling on the government to establish the Australian Multicultural Health Collaborative as a national peak organisation that advocates for multicultural health on an ongoing basis.
“There’s a lot more work that needs to be done … We need to ensure there’s equity in health messages and there is outreach to those communities because we know, statistically, they’re underrepresented,” Mr Al-Khafaji said.
SBS News has contacted the Department of Health for comment.
