16 November 2005

National Prescribing Service Limited (NPS) and the Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia (FECCA) are the proud winners in the Community category of the 2005 National Multicultural Marketing Award. Announced on 14 November at a ceremony organised by the Community Relations Commission of NSW in Sydney’s Westin Hotel, and attended by representatives of business, government, non-government, community and ethnic groups, the award was for the Multicultural Community QUM Program - the first national program for multicultural Australians to help them get to know their medicines and manage their medicines more effectively.

The award recognises the program’s value using best practice consultation, development and implementation processes which included community leaders, community organisations and consumers.

With more than 70% of all Australians taking medicines at any one time, Quality Use of Medicines (QUM) is an important issue for many Australians, and multicultural communities have specific QUM issues. QUM means selecting management options wisely, choosing suitable medicines if a medicine is considered necessary and using medicines safely and effectively.

The partnership between NPS and FECCA brings together NPS’s expertise as Australia’s peak, independent, education and information provider about medicines and FECCA’s expertise as the peak, national body representing Australia’s multicultural communities.

The Multicultural Community QUM Program was guided by research undertaken with multicultural communities, NPS and FECCA that identified medicines issues for these communities. The program included development and distribution of bilingual Medimate booklets in Chinese, Vietnamese, Italian and Greek; a national QUM project providing support to and involving over 79 community organisations; an SBS radio collaboration including informative and interactive talkback sessions with health professionals and community service announcements; and an English as a Second Language teaching resource.

“This award is a testament to the value and necessity of listening to communities and adopting multifaceted strategies to address QUM issues of people with diverse backgrounds and needs” said Dr Lynn Weekes, CEO, NPS. “NPS is proud to be actively providing independent information on medicines and pleased to be working as partners with FECCA to reach multicultural communities”.

“Our partnership is delivering best practice in community driven health promotion. FECCA is delighted to be collaborating with NPS in this program and is particularly pleased to see this excellent program acknowledged with such an important award” said Abd Malak AM, Chair, FECCA.

To receive your free copy of Medimate ask your GP or go to the NPS website www.nps.org.au and visit the consumer section.

Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia (FECCA) is the peak, national body representing Australians from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

ENDS

National Prescribing Service Limited (NPS) is a member-based organisation providing accurate, balanced, evidence-based information and services to health professionals and the community on Quality Use of Medicines (QUM). To achieve this we work in partnership with GPs, pharmacists, specialists, other health professionals, Government, pharmaceutical industry, consumer organisations and the community. NPS is an independent, non-profit organisation funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing.