Hawaiʻi’s diverse ethnic population means that about one in four residents speak a language other than English at home – higher than the U.S. average of 21 percent.
In 2006, the Hawaiʻi legislature recognized that language is a barrier for individuals with limited English proficiency (LEP) and passed Hawaiʻi’s Language Access law to ensure that LEP individuals have meaningful access to state-funded services.
“Hawaiʻi has diverse communities and health information should be translated so it can be shared with those who can’t understand or are limited English proficient,” said May Rose Dela Cruz,
Director of Health Equity and Research for the Hawai’i Public Health Institute. “This is especially important for disseminating important up-to-date such as information related to COVID-19.”
Residents with language barriers can sometimes feel lost when looking for COVID-19 information needed to protect themselves and their families from this contagious disease.
In order to provide critical COVID-19 resources to our non-English language speakers, the Hawaiʻi Department of Health provides webpages with multilingual information at https://hawaiicovid19.com/translations/.
These dedicated webpages include resources in 24 languages:
မြန်မာဘာသာ (Burmese) | ខ្មែរ (Cambodian/Khmer) | Visayan (Cebuano) | 简体中文 (Chinese-Simplified) | 繁體中文 (Chinese-Traditional) | Kapasen Chuuk (Chuukese) | Français (French) | Kreyòl Ayisyen (Haitian Creole) | ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian) | Ilokano (Ilocano) | 日本語 (Japanese) | 한국어 (Korean) | Kosrae (Kosraean) | ພາສາລາວ (Lao) | Kajin M̧ajeļ (Marshallese) | Pohnpei (Pohnpeian) | Português (Portugese) | Gagana Samoa (Samoan) | Español (Spanish) | Tagalog | ภาษาไทย (Thai) | Lea Faka-Tonga (Tongan) | Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese) | Yapese
The sites include fliers that can be downloaded and shared with information about vaccines boosters, protective masks, and free test kits. There are also brochures detailing health care for those who contract COVID-19, information on health insurance providers, and questions and answers about vaccinations.
Multi-language instructional videos cover social distancing, mental health, hand washing, and isolation and quarantine.
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