Refugee Cancer Screening Project

The Institute has been awarded a grant of $340,000 by the NSW Ministry of Health, under the Refugee Health Flexible Fund, to implement a Refugee Cancer Screening Partnership Project in partnership with NSW Refugee Health Service, and the Settlement Council of Australia, the national peak body for settlement.

The project has a focus on refugee communities from the Sub-Saharan and Middle east regions, including people originating from countries such as Sierra Leone, Liberia, Burrundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Iraq and Syria.

The Institute shared these funds with the following organisations across the state:

  • Illawarra Multicultural Services
  • Northern Settlement Services
  • NSW Service for Treatment and rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors (STARTTS)
  • Metro Assist Inc.

These organisations were provided $30,000 each to implement the projects locally. An additional $26,000 was provided to Settlement Council of Australia to facilitate the participation of NSW members in the project.

All the partners will collaborate to improve participation rates of target refugee communities in national cancer screening programs (bowel, breast and cervical).