Abstract
The chapter conceptualizes how translation and interpreting are risk reduction tools that are quintessential aids to reduce health inequity in crises. Following Showstack et al. (Language as a social determinant of health: An applied linguistics perspective on health equity. American Association for Applied Linguistics Newsletter. Retrieved May 29, 2021, from https://www.aaal.org/news/language-as-a-social-determinant-of-health-an-, 2019) the chapter argues for renewed focus on language as a social determinant of health. Treated as a problem, language diversity creates vulnerabilities when it compounds on existing socio-economic inequalities collectively exposing the whole of society in a pandemic. Whether or not the pandemic is one of many of the twenty-first century is irrelevant: the COVID-19 must prompt a scrutiny of cross-communication practices. Reflecting on the significant shortcomings in organizing risk communication before the pandemic, this chapter argues for crisis communication strategies to be developed outside the ‘Western monolingual ideology’, accepting that multilingualism is the norm and planning accordingly.
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- 1.
Definition retrieved on January 18, 2021, from http://www.instituteofhealthequity.org/about-our-work/action-on-the-social-determinants-of-health-#:~:text=Background,shape%20and%20drive%20health%20outcomes.
- 2.
See announcement ‘Policy recommendations for the consideration of translation and interpreting in emergency management communication’. Retrieved May 29, 2021, from https://www.preventionweb.net/news/view/69079.
- 3.
See resource added on January 13, 2020, ‘International network in crisis translation—Recommendations on policies.’ Retrieved May 29, 2021, from https://reliefweb.int/report/world/international-network-crisis-translation-recommendations-policies.
- 4.
To be exact, ‘The EIOS initiative is a unique collaboration among WHO, the Global Outbreak, Alert and Response Network, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the World Organisation for Animal Health, the Global Health Security Initiative, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission’ (Abdelmalik et al., 2018, p. 268).
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Federici, F.M. (2022). Translating Health Risks: Language as a Social Determinant of Health. In: Federici, F.M. (eds) Language as a Social Determinant of Health. Palgrave Studies in Translating and Interpreting. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-87817-7_1
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