Earlier this month, Ministers of State Catherine Byrne TD., and David Stanton TD., launched the HSE’s Second National Intercultural Health Strategy 2018 – 2023.

The strategy provides a comprehensive and integrated approach to addressing the many unique, health and support needs experienced by the increasing numbers of HSE service users from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds and who live in Ireland.

It provides a comprehensive and integrated approach to addressing the many, unique, health and support needs experienced by the increasing numbers of service users of diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds who live in Ireland.

At the launch, founder of AkiDwA, Salome Mbugua, “As we know health is very important in terms of people’s rights and how they access both in itself. So it’s an important document for the staff so they can access the information and they can understand about the different diversities we have in Ireland and how it has changed. We now have over 200 languages spoken in Ireland. So that means different backgrounds, it means different cultures and people can enlighten themselves by going through the strategy and understanding people more and where they’re coming from.”

These service users make up a diverse group in terms of country of origin, economic and social backgrounds, education and work experience, integration and healthcare outcomes. Some are migrants (including foreign students, asylum seekers and refugees); some are members of the Traveller and Roma community. Some are newly arrived, while others are settled in established communities.

Various cross government strategies contain specific actions assigned to the HSE in respect of the health status, experiences and outcomes of members of minority ethnic communities across the country. This HSE National Intercultural Health Strategy represents a strategic response to integrating these actions, together with a range of additional specific health related actions arising from consultations, learning from implementation of the first HSE National Intercultural Health Strategy and evidence from international and national research.

Five main goals are outlined in the strategy:
-Enhance accessibility of services to service users from diverse ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds
-Address health issues experienced by service users from diverse ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds
-Ensure provision of high quality, culturally responsive services to service users from diverse ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds
-Build an evidence base
-Strengthen partnership working to enhance intercultural health.

Further Information:

Video from launch: At the launch of the HSE's Intercultural Health Strategy we talked to the people involved to see what the publication of this strategy is so important click here.
Second National Intercultural Health Strategy
Summary of written submissions
The Executive summaries in English, Arabic, Lithuanian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian