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The Coffs Harbour Women’s Health Centre has been awarded Cancer Institute NSW funding for culturally inclusive screening program.
The Coffs Harbour Women’s Health Centre has been awarded a grant from the Cancer Institute NSW to deliver culturally inclusive cervical screening education and services for refugee women in the Coffs Harbour region.
The funding, awarded through the Cancer Institute NSW Competitive Grants program, will support a combined health promotion and clinical service model designed to remove the barriers that currently keep refugee women from one of the most effective cancer prevention measures available.
Coffs Harbour has welcomed more than 1,600 people as refugee arrivals since 2008. For many, language barriers, a lack of culturally appropriate health information, and limited awareness of preventative health services mean routine screening never happens.
Health Promotions manager Jen Williams said the program was designed around what the community had told the organisation it needed.
“Cervical cancer is one of the most preventable cancers there is – but prevention only works if it actually reaches people. For many of the women we’re working with, the barrier isn’t willingness. It’s that no one has ever explained what screening is in a language they understand, in a setting where they feel safe.”
The project will deliver education sessions and multilingual video and written resources developed in partnership with Settlement Services International, North Coast Settlement Services and Refugee Health, alongside no-gap cervical screening clinics staffed with interpreters and delivered using trauma-informed approaches.
Sessions will be held in accessible community locations rather than clinical settings, with bilingual workers and community leaders involved in both promotion and delivery.
Health Voyage CEO Tazmyn Jewell said the grant reflected a broader commitment to health equity across the region.
“Every person in our community deserves access to preventative healthcare, regardless of where they were born or what language they speak. This funding lets us take screening to women who have been missed by a system that was never designed with them in mind. In the year our Women’s Health Centre turns forty, it feels like exactly the right work to be doing.”
Participant feedback and screening uptake will be monitored throughout delivery, with the model refined as the project progresses.
The Coffs Harbour Women’s Health Centre, operated by Health Voyage, is celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2026 and provides women-centred, trauma-informed health services across Gumbaynggirr, Bundjalung and Yaegl nations.
This Cervical Screening Primary Care Grant project is conducted with the support of the Cancer Institute NSW and funded by the Australian Government.
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