Racism hits non-English speakers' health

Published in Aids_Asia Mailing List, September 17, 2007

Racial discrimination is putting at risk the mental health of manyVictorians, a new government report has found.
The VicHealth report, More Than Tolerance: Embracing Diversity ForHealth, was based on a survey of more than 4,000 people.
It found almost two-in-five Victorians from non-English speakingbackgrounds reported they had been treated with disrespect, insultedor called names because of their ethnicity, with a small proportionof those saying they experienced discrimination often.
Of those who reported racial discrimination, 40 per cent said theysuffered discrimination at work, while 30 per cent were discriminatedagainst in an educational setting, the report said.Almost 45 per cent said they had a bad experience with racism at asporting or public event, while 19 per cent said they experiencedracism at the hands of police.
About one-third of Victorians said they could identify cultural orethnic groups they believed did not fit into Australian society.
The report revealed that those who suffered discrimination were morelikely to suffer poor mental health, smoke and misuse drugs oralcohol.
The findings tally with previous studies that showed an associationbetween discrimination and heart disease, diabetes and low infantbirth rate, VicHealth chief executive Todd Harper said.
People from migrant and refugee backgrounds continued tosuffer "unacceptably high levels of discrimination, in turn affectingtheir health and well-being", he said.
Former Australian Medical Association president Dr Mukesh Haikerwal,who is a GP in Melbourne's west, and who will help launch the report,said the report found a strong connection between racism and poormental health.
"The results of discrimination are a feeling of greater isolation andfeeling less connected with society," he said."That isolation and the very fact that they are racially abused means that they suffer ill-health including mental illness.
"We see this all the time in the west, of course, that people are newto the country, having trouble with the language and setting into anew life."They feel very upset and very much under the gun because of whattheir perceive as discrimination and poor support.
"Mr Harper said while the statistics on racism were striking, therewas also good news in the report."About 90 per cent of Victorian agreed that it was good to have asociety made up of different cultures, so I think that there is afair bit of support that we can build upon here," he said.
The report recommends a range of interventions, including furtherstudies, a range of communication and education campaigns andcommunity development programs to build networks between groups andcommunities.http://au.news.yahoo.com/070916/2/14ftb.html?=mvhttp://www.vichealth.vic.gov.au/discrimattitudes/