CEH Background

The origins of CEH can be found in the Commonwealth Government's Galbally report on Post Arrival Services (1979), which recommended the provision of substantial government support for the establishment of Migrant Resource Centres, Multicultural Health Services and interpreting and translation services.

Throughout the 1980s, predecessor organisations to CEH assumed responsibility for the development of bi-lingual health material for the health sector. In effect, bi-lingual workers facilitated the translation of health material to support the health sector to communicate directly with NESB clients.

CEH was founded and funded by the Department of Human Services as a statewide service in 1993.

Its original purpose was to:

• Assist rural and metropolitan health service providers to improve service delivery to Victoria's Non English Speaking background (NESB) communities
• Understand the importance of acknowledging the impact of cultural diversity on health and wellbeing

The establishment of CEH was the outcome of a recognised shift in the resource needs of health service providers. CEH was funded to facilitate more appropriate responses to the needs of local ethnic communities by working with health service providers. At the time, this provided CEH with a more strategic approach to NESB service delivery and community health issues.

In the late 1990s, the role of CEH evolved to reflect the shift towards contracting-in service provision. Its focus at the time was to operate as a consulting organisation, providing advice and information to service providers upon request in addition to programs and services prescribed by Government.

Throughout its 16-year history, one constant feature of CEH has been its focus on providing Victorian health service providers with the necessary support and resources to deliver services in response to the needs of NESB clients and ethnic communities as a whole.