Cultural competency tool to be offered in five languages
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* Lindsey Wahowiak

Public health practitioners looking to better meet the needs of underserved communities have a new tool to draw on.

The Southeastern Health Equity Council recently translated its Cultural Competency Resource Guide from English into four other languages: Chinese, Korean, Spanish and Vietnamese, and will release the new guides this year to curb disparities in Southern communities.

The Cultural Competency Resource Guide was released in English in 2014. It outlines available trainings on cultural competency — the ability of individuals and organizations to deliver services that successfully address the social, cultural and linguistic needs of individuals and communities — in both health care and general settings. The trainings included in the guide include those that address specific populations, such as Latin American immigrants.

The guide also highlights local and regional trainings that could be particularly useful for council members and others in the Southeastern U.S.

The Cultural Competency Resource Guide also includes suggested readings to improve users’ cultural competency, and a glossary of key terms to expand users’ understanding of culture competency, cultural humility and other critical elements of providing holistic, ethical and accessible care to underserved communities.

The council is a regional coalition of the National Partnership for Action to End Health Disparities.

To learn more or request the guide in any of its five languages, visit [http://region4.npa-rhec.org](http://region4.npa-rhec.org).

*   Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association