[Re: https://www.hifa.org/dgroups-rss/please-send-details-international-patie... ]
Dear Amelia,
Many thanks for your message, covering a range of topics: PIF Tick, health communication, paper-based patient records and language barriers during medical consultations in Malawi.
Your paper 'Assessing language barriers in health facilities in Malawi' (2024) concludes that 'Language barriers in healthcare facilities in Malawi have serious implications on the quality of healthcare provided. We propose solutions such as the development of dictionaries with phrases for symptoms and conditions, sensitisation courses that incorporate language considerations for both professionals and patients. Policies such as the provision of interpreters and staff allocation are discussed. We recognise that coordinated efforts at national and international levels are key to securing significant funding for effective interventions'. https://bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12913-024-1...
Is there anything that HIFA could do to help address this issue? We have a Multilingualism working group that includes a representative of Clear Global, current and former WHO staff, and lead moderators of HIFA-French, -Portuguese, -Spanish. https://www.hifa.org/projects/multilingualism You and others with an interest in this topic are welcome to join.
You also say in your message that 'most common methods of sharing health information [in Malawi] are oral communication during consultations or healthcare campaigns, and via the radio/TV'. Given your role as a lecturer in artificial intelligence at Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences, I would be interested to learn from your experience about the future role of AI in health communications.
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