Generic drug campaign targets Chinese and Italian seniors

A new campaign has begun to inform older people from Chinese and Italian backgrounds about generic medicines.

The National Prescribing Service (NPS) campaign aims to inform older Australians from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds that generic medicines contain the same active ingredients as ‘original brand medicines’ – despite the fact that they may look different or come in different packaging.

Ongoing research conducted by the Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia (FECCA) since 2004 has identified a low level awareness about generic medicines among culturally diverse seniors.

Many migrant seniors associate ‘brand’ medicine with good quality, leading to confusion and an increased risk of medication incidents.

There are also issues associated with equity of access to medications.

“The lack of knowledge about the availability of high quality generic drugs obviously has cost implications and we know that seniors from CALD backgrounds tend to be on lower incomes than Australian-born seniors,” said the director of FECCA, Peter van Vliet.

“For instance, it has been shown that they are twice as likely to be on the full pension as those older people born in Australia, so this information is very important to their financial wellbeing.”

With assistance from FECCA, the NPS will produce a series of community service radio announcements and printed resources in Cantonese, Mandarin and Italian.

The campaign is encouraging older people to speak to their GPs and pharmacists about suitable generic medicine alternatives.

“We know that seniors from communities who speak languages other than English are particularly inclined to listen and consider medicines information from their doctors and pharmacists,” said the deputy chief executive officer of NPS, Karen Kaye.

“The role health professionals play in explaining and reinforcing messages about understanding medicines and using medicines safely is extremely important.”

Provided funding is made available, FECCA and NPS hope to roll out the campaign to other ethnic and language groups, such as the Greek and Vietnamese communities.
 
“The CALD senior population in Australia is peaking in 2011 at around 23% of the elderly population and there are significant issues around language barriers for many of those people,” said Mr van Vliet.

It will be a big challenge for the whole aged care sector to ensure that they are getting adequate services and that they have access to sufficient, accessible information.”