Support to share health messages universally

Imagine trying to keep up with Covid news if English isn’t your first language. Fortunately, there’s help in Sandwell for any organisation looking for clear messages in a variety of mother tongues.

Asma Rhaza and her colleagues at Rights and Equality Sandwell are keen to help promote important Covid safety messages to all of the borough’s diverse communities. Between them they can communicate in Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi, Mirpuri, Pothwari, Hindko, Russian, Slovakian, Polish and Hungarian.

Asma says it’s really important to make sure residents speaking a language other than English, fully understand the importance of things like regular hand-washing and social distancing. “We’re working with Public Health Sandwell to make sure the right messages about health and wellbeing are translated,” she said. “We can talk to groups or individuals and explain things like how important it is not to gather households together. For example, in certain cultures when someone dies they find it really disrespectful not to visit, regardless of lockdown. So households will go and visit and sit in a room of 30, sometimes a lot more, and not realise they are not only risking their own health and everyone in that room, but then taking anything they may have picked up back home to their loved ones.”

If you would like support to share messages with your communities, call 0121 541 1775, contact Asma.Rhaza@rightsandequalitysandwell.co.uk, or visit the website.