the importance of communication in stopping outbreaks

[Stephanie]

This is an interesting article about how important the right language and appropriate communication is in helping to stem outbreaks in other countries, focusing particularly on ebola.

Cas suspect or “suspected case” is just one example of a problematic term used in French across the Ebola response. In a highly multilingual context, local residents might interpret it literally as someone with the symptoms of Ebola who is a bad person (“suspect”) with little worth (cas sounds like ka, a diminutive in the local Nande language).

https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/opin ... munication

[Squeak]

Ouch. That's a fascinating article, thanks. Annd such a fiendish problem too. It's so natural for English (and apparently French) showing medical staff to use fighting terms in their descriptions of treatments as fighting disease. Now it's pointed out, is so obvious to me that such phrases could easily get mis translated and heard as fighting the person who has the disease. Especially if medical staff approach you in full Hazmat suits, which would be frankly terrifying in the best of circumstances.

[mikeh]

Especially if medical staff approach you in full Hazmat suits, which would be frankly terrifying in the best of circumstances.

This was something that has been discussed at length, because "foreigner in a space suit rocking up and wrapping you in a big tent" is indeed a scary thing. One of the adjustments they made to their garb was to have a transparent section for the full face. Thus allowing the patient to see facial emotions, which are important for reassurance and indeed communication. The feedback on that approach was positive, so I think most Ebola-space-suit fancy dress shops will sell the last model rather than ones where very little of the face can be seen.

It's also why it's annoying when people take the piss out of the social scientists, since it is they who can massively contribute in situations like this, public health emergencies, when a metric-f.ck-ton of lives are at stake, and we shouldn't be charging in with our western lifestyle trying to force desperate people to comply with our demands.

And yes, interesting article and subject area.

[OneOffDave]

We always use three terms when talking about cases - Possible, Probable and Confirmed

Possible - someone could have something but currently uncertain - Higher possibility than the general population though
Probable - it is highly likely that someone has got the illness though not yet confirmed by tests
Confirmed - Definitely have the illness confirmed by lab tests (usually PCR)