Camp Quality
Camp Quality is taking steps to improve health outcomes for non-English-speaking families
In the first of its kind in Australia, Camp Quality has expanded their successful Kids’ Guide to Cancer to make the resource available in four new languages: Arabic, Cantonese, Mandarin and Hindi.
Kids’ Guide to Cancer is a free app and website resource that helps parents, grandparents and carers explain cancer and treatments to children with age-appropriate information and easy to understand graphics and videos.
The expansion of the resource to include new language translations will provide multicultural children and families who are facing cancer with crucial health information in their own language.
It’s a step in the right direction to help improve poor health outcomes for multicultural communities facing a cancer diagnosis, who often have poorer health outcomes due to a lack of access to cancer-related information in their own language*.
Director of The Cancer Centre for Children at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, Dr Luciano Dalla-Pozza says: ”A majority of children and adolescents we treat for cancer at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead are from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.”
“Cancer is difficult for any family, but when language is also a barrier, it is far more challenging, especially when sharing and explaining information.
“The Kids’ Guide to Cancer app and website is an invaluable additional resource that makes it easy to translate information to our young vulnerable patients and their families from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds,” says Dr Dalla-Pozza.
Significantly, approximately 22% of all cancer diagnoses in Victoria are in people who were born in non-English speaking countries**.
Camp Quality supports one in three children diagnosed with cancer each year. But their goal is to help them all.
“We know that for children and families who speak another language, it’s a particularly frightening time because they are often unable to access cancer information in their language that is credible, age-appropriate and educational,” says Camp Quality CEO, Deborah Thomas.
“We are proud to offer the Kids’ Guide to Cancer in these four new languages to all families at absolutely no cost, and we hope that it will make a difference in the lives of more children and families facing cancer.”
Access the Kids’ Guide to Cancer online: www.campquality.org.au/kids-guide-to-cancer/
*https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33768373/
**https://www.cancervic.org.au/about/culturally-linguistally-diverse-communities
