Dr Mike Ryan of the World Health Organisation believes the ‘My Health My Language’ initiative will play a pivotal role in ensuring vital information on health reaches all in our community.
The Executive Director of the World Health Organization’s Health Emergencies Programme said: “The My Health, My Language project is an impressive innovation. It shows that we have learned a key lesson of the COVID-19 pandemic: that we need to reach people where they are, in the ways that are most effective in getting them the information they need to protect their health. Every community member deserves this.”
Launched on Monday at the Lighthouse Cinema in Dublin by Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly the initiative, a partnership between the HSE Social Inclusion office and Translate Ireland, saw nearly 200 video messages across 17 language created to deliver information on primary care and maternity care.
The video messages, presented by healthcare workers in Ireland who are themselves migrants, are available in Polish, Portuguese, Arabic, Ukrainian, Lithuanian, French, English, Irish, Somalian, Urdu, Czech, Georgian, Russian, Slovak, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish and Romanian.
They cover everything from topics such as: ‘How do I access healthcare in Ireland’ to ‘Contraception’, ‘Early Pregnancy’ and ‘Looking after a new born baby’.
Dr Ryan said the fact these video messages are presented by Healthcare workers is a particular important and dynamic aspect of the ‘My Health My Language’ initiative.
He said: “By ensuring that the information is available in so many languages, you are ensuring better health for all. By using health workers as the spokespersons, you are reinforcing and amplifying the position of trust they hold at the heart of communities, everywhere in the world.”
The My Health My Language series of videos is available at My health my language – HSE.ie
