Need for Cultural Competence

In its Policy Brief 1, the National Center for Cultural Competence (NCCC) at Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development provides six reasons that justify the need for cultural competence in health care:

* The perception of illness and disease and their causes varies by culture

* Diverse belief systems exist related to health, healing and wellness

* Culture influences help seeking behaviors and attitudes toward health care providers

* Individual preferences affect traditional and non-traditional approaches to health care

* Patients must overcome personal experiences of biases within health care systems

* Health care providers from culturally and linguistically diverse groups are under-represented in the current service delivery system.

(Source: http://www.aap.org/commpeds/cepc/need.html )