Multilingual resources and translated information

COVID-19 resources for vulnerable groups

About the Irish Health System: A guide for refugees and other migrants

The guide is in three parts.

  1. Part 1 gives information on how to access different types of health care, the services that are free and how the GP, Pharmacy and hospital systems work.
  2. Part 2 gives information about specialist services (dental treatments, eye tests, hearing aids, vaccinations) and some of the staff you may meet in the health system.
  3. Part 3 advises what to do in an emergency.

About the Irish Health Service PRINT poster with QR codes in 21 languages

About the Irish Health Service WEB poster with QR codes in 21 languages

HSE My Health, My Language

HSE National Social Inclusion Office and Translate Ireland have developed a series of videos entitled “My health, my language” for migrants and international protection applicants to give them information on healthcare in Ireland. 

The videos on 11 health topics are translated into 17 languages; English, Irish, Arabic, Czech, French, Georgian, Mandarin Chinese (simplified), Romanian, Russian, Lithuanian, Polish, Portuguese, Slovak, Spanish, Somali, Ukrainian and Urdu.

HSE GP visit card

Posters with information on the GP visit card, available in English,  Irish, Polish, Romanian, Portuguese,Lithuanian, Chinese, Latvian, Ukrainian,  Arabic.

Cairde healthconnect.ie 

A multilingual website which provides information on health services in Ireland including GP Practices, hospitals, maternity and women's health and mental health. Available in English, Arabic, Chinese, Ukrainian, Russian and Polish. Visit healthconnect.ie

HSE unplanned pregnancy support services

Interpreters can be provided in 240 languages. This service is free and confidential. Freephone 1800 828 010. You or someone on your behalf will need to tell us what language you speak and give us a phone number. An interpreter will then phone you back for a 3-way call between you, a MyOptions counsellor and the interpreter. 

My options freephone line

Rape Crisis Network of Ireland help

rapecrisishelp.ie is available in Arabic, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), English, French, German, Irish, Italian, Polish, Portuguese and Russian, Spanish, Ukrainian. Just visit the site and choose your preferred language from the drop-down menu.

HSE keeping well in winter

HSE Multilingual Aid

This aid helps health staff to communicate more effectively with patients. It is intended for use prior to asking for the services of an interpreter or while waiting for the interpreter to arrive. This is available in: 

Arabic, Bosnian, ChineseCzechFrenchGerman,Hungarian, IrishLatvianLithuanianPashtuPolishPortugueseRomanian, RussianSlovakSpanishSomali, Ukrainian and Urdu.

Language identification card (PDF)

HSE 'I need to see the Pharmacist' translation aid 

Download the translation aid to assist in visiting the pharmacist in English/Arabic (docx)

'Know, Check, Ask' Medication Safety Programme

Safermeds have produced a leaflet encouraging patients to 'Know, Check, Ask' in relation to their medicines.

KNOW your medicines and keep a list. CHECK that you are using the right medicine the right way. ASK your healthcare professional if you’re unsure. Available in English, Georgian, Russian, Somalian, Ukrainian, Arabic

Cork Kerry Community Healthcare migrant health

Visit the Cork Kerry Community Healthcare migrant health website

Information includes:

  • Trauma and PTSD- what it is and what it feels like -Videos available in English, Arabic and Farsi
  • How to manage sleeping and anxiety and other issues - Leaflets available in English, Arabic
  • Meditations - available in Arabic and English

Asthma Society of Ireland Education Resources for Minority Groups

The Asthma Education Inclusion Project consists of culturally appropriate, literacy-friendly asthma resources and materials for the Roma, Refugees, People Seeking International Protection and the Traveller community.

Visit the Asthma Society of Ireland website for resources

Diet planning for coeliacs

This resource is available to registered Dietitians in English and Romanian by contacting the Gastroenterology Interest Group of the INDI via info@indi.ie.

HSE Information for Roma

Health information available in English, Romanian, Czech and Slovak

HSE Mychild.ie books

My Pregnancy book - English/Arabic (PDF)

mychild.ie book for 0-2 year olds - English/Arabic (PDF)

mychild.ie book for 2-5 year olds - English/Arabic (PDF)

HSE Postpartum (after giving birth) booklet - English (PDF)

HSE Postpartum (after giving birth) booklet - Romanian (PDF) 

Lost in Translation? A guide for HSE staff

Lost in Translation? Good Practice Guidelines for HSE Staff in Planning, Managing and Assuring Quality Translations of Health Related Material and Other Languages.

Health Services Intercultural Guide

Health Services Intercultural Guide: Responding to the needs of diverse religious communities and cultures in healthcare settings.

This is a resource to help health-care professionals to care for patients from diverse ethnic, religious and cultural groups. It is also available as an app - Understand me - free of charge from Google Play.

An app is a piece of software that can be used on a mobile phone, tablet or sometimes a computer. You can get more information about this app in Communicate your health mobile apps.

HSE Flu vaccine information

The HSE has launched a flu vaccine campaign and produced leaflets for 1) at risk groups 2) healthcare workers 3) pregnant women 4) children and young people 

Translations are available in 9 languages: English, Irish, Arabic, Czech, French, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Slovak and Ukrainian.

HSE Childhood Immunisation Calendar

The Immunisation Calendar was designed to accompany HSE information on vaccinations.

FDYS Childhood Diseases

Leaflets developed by the Waterford and Wexford Roma Health Projects managed by the Integration and Support Unit and the Ferns Diocesan Youth Service; supported by HSE Social Inclusion and the Department of Public Health, Community Healthcare Organisation Area 5. The leaflet is available in English and Romanian.

The Childhood Diseases leaflet was designed to accompany HSE information on vaccinations.

Do you know how to take this medicine?

A leaflet giving standard medicine measurements in English and Arabic is available.

Cairde Pathways To Being Well 

Cairde develops culturally appropriate information materials about health and health services in Ireland. Some are available in various languages. To access these resources, you can visit the Cairde website.

Sexual health

HSE Your Guide to Sexually Transmitted Infections (sexualwellbeing.ie)

Contraception (sexualwellbeing.ie)

HIV Treatment leaflets 

The HSE's Sexual Health and Wellbeing programme have treatment leaflets in French, Spanish and Portuguese. Their Prep information leaflet is also available in Portuguese. 

HSE Tuberculosis (TB) leaflets

HSE patient information leaflets on TB are available in 14 languages – English, Irish, Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovakian and Spanish. 

Download the tuberculosis leaflets

HPSC Hepatitis B factsheets and leaflets

Hepatitis B information leaflets are available from the HSE Health Protection Surveillance Centre in English, Arabic, Chinese, French, Irish, Latvian, Lithuanian, Portuguese, Romanian and Russian. Hepatitis B leaflets.

HSE National Cervical Screening Programme

CervicalCheck website has a sample CervicalCheck information sheet and Cervical Screening form in several languages. These documents are to aid HSE staff in explaining what cervical screening is to participants where English is not their first language. However, it is important that you use the English screening form when you are submitting the screening sample:

English, Chinese, French, Irish, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Urdu, German, Hindi, Filipino, Arabic, Bengali, Croatian, Ukrainian, Vietnamese

Domestic violence

HSE Cork/Kerry Animation on domestic violence - English (Youtube)

HSE Cork/Kerry Animation on domestic violence - Arabic (Youtube)

Hill Street Family Resource Centre Domestic Violence poster

A poster developed by Hill Street Family Resource Centre (Dublin) is available in:

English, Arabic, ChineseFrench, Hindi,  Polish, Romanian, Russian.

AkiDwA Women Support Services leaflet and poster for Domestic Violence

Available in English leaflet, Arabic poster, Arabic leaflet, French poster, French leaflet, Swahili poster, Swahili leaflet

Women’s Aid Domestic Violence Videos

Women's Aid have developed videos to share the signs of domestic violence and how and where to access safe, supportive help in many languages.  

Visit the Women's Aid website