Skip to main content

Language barriers and healthcare access

Effective communication is crucial in all settings, including healthcare environments. However, barriers like language gaps can hinder patient-practitioners communication, leading to poor health outcomes. Language barriers further prevent patients from receiving optimal healthcare services and healthcare workers from delivering client-centered care. In Ghana, language minority populations face significant challenges in accessing quality healthcare due to language barriers. Our recent study explored these challenges in the Tafi-Atome and Avatime-Vane communities in the Volta Region, revealing a critical need for stronger communication and translation practices. In this study, we found that healthcare professionals preferred to use English, Akan, and Ewe, while patients from the language minority communities preferred their native languages, Sideme and Tegbor. This language gap leads to misunderstandings, misdiagnoses, and inadequate treatment. It was also realised that unqualified interpreters are often used, exacerbating the problem. To address these challenges, we urge stakeholders in Ghana's healthcare delivery system to prioritize effective communication and translation practices, including the provision of language training for healthcare professionals, employment of qualified interpreters in the health facilities, development of patient education materials in local languages and encouragement of community engagement and participation. Please visit here to read the full article.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Treasure hunt

TREASURE HUNT FOR MY INFORMATION RETRIEVAL STUDENTS Answer the questions below. This forms part of your assessment for this course. Clue: Answer question one in order to answer the rest Answer these questions on sheets of papers with your index numbers. Submission date: 21/02/2017 1.       There is a building in Pretoria that used to be known as “Oom Jochemus’s Place”. Who was the architect? 2.       This architect designed another building: a cottage for the curator of which park? 3.       Who was this park named after? 4.       This person introduced the first coins in South Africa. When the coins were minted, the die broke and this gave rise to two varieties of coins. What were they named? 5.       The feature referred to above, is also the part of the name of a type of lizard. What is the genus name of these lizards? 6.    ...
2 comments
Read more

Reference Management Systems (RMS) Preferences

This article discusses the findings of a study on students' knowledge and use of Reference Management Software in managing their referencing and citation needs. Using a descriptive study to distribute questionnaires among students of a health training institution, the authors share details on the respondents' knowledge of and preferred RMS, their primary use, and the why some do not use these tools. These interesting findings will be of academics in the scholarly communications ecosystem and especially, mentors and supervisors of research students. The full text of this piece could be accessed via:  https://tinyurl.com/bdz6amv6  
5 comments
Read more

Open publishing of public health research in Africa

I n our previous study , we shed light on how imperative it is to enhance the accessibility of publications in African public health journals. Building upon this groundwork, this study sought to delineate the current landscape regarding the knowledge of, obstacles to, and enthusiasm for capacity building in open publishing within the realm of public health research across Africa. The study used an online survey to glean responses from 91 participants from 16 African nations, comprising authors (75%), reviewers (53%), journal editors (40%), and journal publishers (19%), with some individuals assuming multiple roles. Notably, respondents possessed experience in both traditional and open access publishing modalities. Surprisingly, less than half of the respondents recognised the advantages associated with open publishing, such as enhanced accessibility, increased citations, and heightened transparency. Additionally, a portion of the respondents provided inaccurate responses, underscoring ...
Post a Comment
Read more