Health in My Language

Health in My Language advances health equity for migrant and refugee communities in Australia though tailored, in-language health education.

Health in My Language focuses on mental health, cancer screening and sexual and reproductive health education. 

Between July 2025 – June 2026, the national Health in My Language program will deliver health education sessions in the following topics: 

  • Understanding mental health 
  • Navigating the Australian mental health system 
  • Breast cancer screening  
  • Cervical cancer screening  
  • Bowel cancer screening  
  • Lung cancer screening 
  • Contraception choices 
  • Safer sex 
  • Understanding menopause 
  • Pregnancy choices 

In Victoria, these sessions are available in the following languages: Arabic, Turkish, Vietnamese, Farsi, Dari, Persian, Mandarin, Hindi, Chaldean, Assyrian, Cantonese, Italian, Greek, Swahili, Spanish, Thai, English. 

To book a free health education session, email your request to programs@mcwh.com.au 

If you are a Project Partner, click here to visit the Health in My Language Partners Page

What is the Health in My Language program?

Health in My Language provides free, tailored, in-language health education sessions to migrant and refugee women across Australia through the deployment of a trained, national Bilingual Health Educator workforce.  

The project aims to:  

  • Address migrant and refugee women's intersecting structural and interpersonal barriers to accessing mental health, cancer screening and sexual and reproductive health services 
  • Build national awareness to increase migrant and refugee women’s knowledge of and access to mental health, cancer screening and sexual and reproductive health services through in-language health information and education.   
  • Partner with organisations nationally and build Bilingual Health Educator capacity to deliver health education to migrant and refugee communities.  

Health in My Language (HIML) is funded by the Commonwealth Government to run until June 2026 and deliver education sessions to migrant and refugee communities in every state and territory. 

Background

Health in My Language began in 2022 as a national response program to address barriers to vaccine literacy and vaccine update during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2024, the program focussed on the delivery of cancer screening and sexual and reproductive health information. 

Over three years, we have strengthened our national Bilingual Health Educator workforce to best respond to migrant and refugee communities’ needs. Our 2025 HIML SRH Project Evaluation report demonstrates our continued impact on improving the health and wellbeing of migrant and refugee people. 

Building on this foundation, the program will continue through to 2026, with a focus on the delivery of mental health, cancer screening, and sexual and reproductive bilingual health education. 

Who are we working with?

MCWH is currently working with seven partner organisations in each state and territory to deploy a team of highly skilled Bilingual Health Educators who will received accredited trained to deliver health education in over 20 languages/dialects, using our unique MCWH health education model and quality standards.

Our valued partners are:

  • True Relationships and Reproductive Health - Queensland
  • Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors - STARTTS - New South Wales
  • Women's Health Matters - The Australian Capital Territory
  • Australian Red Cross- Tasmania
  • Australian Red Cross - South Australia
  • Australian Red Cross - Northern Territory
  • Ishar Multicultural Women's Health Services - Western Australia
  • We would like to acknowledge Melaleuca Australia as our Northern Territory partner from 2022 to December 2023.

Updates and impact 2022 - 2024

Health in My Language has made a huge impact on bilingual communities around Australia. We would like to thank and acknowledge the incredible work of our partners in coordinating this nation-wide workforce with such enthusiasm and talent. Here are some of our impact stories. 

White text on purple background. Media Release.

Media Release: Health in My Language COVID-19 Program to bring a new focus on Sexual and Reproductive Health for migrant and refugee communities.

The Multicultural Centre for Women’s Health (MCWH) has announced an important evolution of their national Health in My Language program, funded by the Commonwealth Government to run until June 2025.
Continue reading “Media Release: Health in My Language COVID-19 Program to bring a new focus on Sexual and Reproductive Health for migrant and refugee communities.”…