Dear Amelia,
"I am working on a follow-up paper looking at the use of health-passports for history taking. We noted that clinicians are mostly recording medication and treatment information, rather than recording symptoms and diagnosis. To understand this, we conducted a focus group discussion with ten healthcare professionals who participated in the study we did in Zomba."
This is interesting that paper-based personal records continue to be important. I look forward to learn the outcomes of the focus group discussion. Perhaps what is written by clinicians is limited by time constraints? That said, what is written should be led by what is most useful for patients and families.
"We have compiled a collection of symptom expressions in Chichewa and reviewed medical terminology in vernacular languages. It would be valuable to collaborate with colleagues from Clear Global on developing a resource tailored for healthcare professionals. I am particularly interested in exploring how computational linguistics techniques can be leveraged to support the creation and enhancement of such language resources."
Clear Global (formerly Translators Without Borders) is a HIFA supporting organisation and I agree they would be the first organisation that comes to mind when considering clear communication in a language that people can understand.
"Issues of language are also relevant beyond interactions during medical consultations. Using accurate language expressions and translations is crucial for all data collection exercises. Most data is gathered through questions formulated in English, which are then verbally translated and interpreted by the data collectors. This process can introduce inaccuracies, potentially compromising the quality of the collected data."
Yes indeed. And even beyond data collection and processing, language is key to all multi-stakeholder communication for global health, including research communication and policy deliberation. HIFA has forums in four languages (English, French, Portuguese, Spanish). Inclusion of machine translation could be helpful for the future although we do not currently have the resources. Indeed can we imagine a single forum where content is auto-translated to the preferred language of the user?
"I am interested to work with HIFA and other partners in this area. We are a small research team but within the right partnership we can do lot of good work."
HIFA has a working group on Multilingualism which you can see here and you are welcome to join: https://www.hifa.org/projects/multilingualism I'm sure the members of the group would provide useful feedback and suggestions. It includes a representative of Clear Global as well as WHO staff and the lead moderators of HIFA-French, -Portuguese and -Spanish.
Best wishes, Neil
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org
