The South Australian Government is committing $1.7 million over three years to bolster preventive health work in culturally and linguistically diverse communities, with a focus on improving detection, education and access around Type 2 diabetes.
A key recipient, Diabetes SA, will lead one of the core programs by working with migrants, refugees and asylum seekers. The approach draws on lived experience to tailor screening and health information. Minister Zoe Bettison emphasises the inclusive aim: “everyone, irrespective of cultural or linguistic background, has access to information and receives the support they need to live healthier lives.”
Type 2 diabetes already affects 6.4 per cent of South Australians, but the burden appears heavier among certain migrant groups: between 8 and 17 per cent of people originating from the Pacific Islands, Middle East, South Asia and Africa are estimated to live with the disease. The government argues that generic health messaging and services often miss or miscommunicate to these communities.
One of the voices shaping the new program is Ravi Subramanian, who emigrated from Chennai, India, and has lived with diabetes for 27 years. His story illustrates how cultural, dietary and linguistic gaps can contribute to delayed diagnosis and poorer outcomes. He recalls that food from his family’s heritage became an “obsession”, featuring high kilojoule, saturated fat, refined starch and salt. A failed health check derailed his early dream of becoming a pilot. Only later, after too many health warnings went unheeded, did his blood sugar instability catch up with him.
Now Ravi helps co-design the materials, screening processes and patient outreach. He notes that “by receiving information in one’s native language, using culturally appropriate analogies and involving family members, some people at risk of or living with diabetes may find it easier to engage with lifestyle changes and recommendations.” The program intends to explain risk factors clearly, address misconceptions, and bring early intervention closer to communities through pop-up screening sites in community centres and expos.
Pilot screenings have already been held this year, including at the Regency Park Multicultural Expo in May. Beyond Diabetes SA, funds will support the Multicultural Communities Council of SA, Australian Refugee Association and COTA SA to run projects like training men’s health champions, strengthening health literacy for refugees, and keeping older people active and socially connected.
Chris Picton, the Health & Wellbeing Minister, says the government is “proud to be investing in community-led initiatives that will meaningfully address clear disadvantages in terms of health access and outcomes for Australia’s migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and First Peoples.” For Picton, equity in healthcare means identifying and reducing extra barriers faced by people from different cultural or linguistic backgrounds.
From the government’s perspective, embedding cultural understanding is essential. As Preventive Health SA’s chief executive, Marina Bowshall, states: “By working alongside trusted community organisations, we are embedding cultural understanding and lived experience into the heart of preventive health.” She adds that the projects aim to meet the needs of diverse communities so that people feel safe and connected to the health system.
At Diabetes SA, CEO Catherine Hughes described the partnership as one that “reflects our shared commitment to health equity and community co-designed solutions to improve the health and wellbeing of all South Australians.”
Still, challenges remain. Tailored health interventions require ongoing trust, resources and evaluation. Outreach must transcend translation and engage with local cultural values, food traditions, family structures, gender roles and trust in medical systems. Sustaining momentum beyond the pilot stage will be key.
The move arrives after a roundtable hosted last year by Ministers Picton and Bettison, which convened over 30 organisations and peak bodies to explore how preventive health could better serve diverse communities. That event helped surface priority areas such as health literacy, cultural safety, barriers to system access and community-driven solutions.
In regions outside Adelaide, diabetes services already operate through 24 regional sites, using telehealth and local clinics to broaden access. The government’s new funding promises to build on, rather than duplicate, that infrastructure.
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