Multilingualism

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Overview

The HIFA Project on Multilingualism works closely with Linguistic Collaborations at WHO Geneva to

  • promote communication, understanding and advocacy around issues relating to language and healthcare information and learning needs among citizens, health workers, publishers, researchers and policymakers.
  • promote inclusive global health communication in multiple languages
  • promote and support alignment (eg scope, moderation approach, branding), development and cross-fertilisation across the HIFA forums (English, French, Portuguese, Spanish…) to maximise their collective impact on global health; and 

Timeline 

2009: Launch of HIFA-Portuguese

2010: Launch of HIFA-French

2018: Launch of HIFA-Spanish

Sponsorship opportunity: Please contact us for details.

Activities

The HIFA Project on Multilingualism promotes:

1. communication, discussion and debate on the HIFA forums, on issues relating to language and healthcare information and learning needs among citizens, health workers, publishers, researchers and policymakers

2. understanding of language and information needs and how to address these issues, and build the relevant parts of the HIFA Voices database        

3. advocacy to improve the availability and use of health information for all end-users in a language that they can understand.  

In addition, the Project promotes and supports alignment (eg scope, moderation approach, branding), development and cross-fertilisation across the HIFA forums (English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic…) to maximise their collective impact towards the HIFA vision and goals. The Project also assesses tha feasibility and need for HIFA forums in other languages (eg Chinese, Russian…).

Publications
2018

"HIFA is ready to work with The Lancet Global Health and others to create a world in which every person has access to the information they need in a language they understand to protect their own health and the health of those for whom they are responsible."

 

Members
Like other HIFA Projects, the HIFA Project on Multilingualism is supported by a working group of HIFA volunteers with an interest in the subject.
Name Country
Alice Castillejo United Kingdom
Anne Roca United Kingdom
Chris Zielinski United Kingdom
Eliane Pereira dos Santos United States
Isabelle Wachsmuth-Huguet Switzerland
Martin Carroll United Kingdom
Najeeb Al-Shorbaji Jordan
Neil Pakenham-Walsh United Kingdom
Yap Boum Cameroon
Further information