Health Literacy, Linguistic Diversity and COVID-19 in Ghana
The Africa Initiative Pilot Grant Program, in partnership with the Institute for Public Health and the McDonnell International Scholars Academy, has selected Professor Cindy Brantmeier's project Health Literacy, Linguistic Diversity and COVID-19 in Ghana as one of eight projects to receive funding. Read more about the Africa Initiative and other recipients here.
About the Project
Partner institution: University of Ghana
Extreme social change brings great linguistic change. Global discourse is dominated by specialized terms for Covid-19 from the fields of medicine and epidemiology that are transmitted through government briefings, tele conferences and more. Long before the current pandemic, functional health literacy was an ongoing challenge for linguistically diverse patients who do not use the language of health care professionals. This study will partner with scholars and professionals across disciplines in St. Louis and Ghana to examine the design and implementation of Covid-19 information in the services used to manage language minority patients. Data will be collected from 250 health care providers, in regular hospitals and Covid-19 treatment centers in Ghana, and will explore communication and language use in the infection control procedures with the diverse cultures, languages and communication needs of Ghana. Findings will provide valuable insights and lessons for linguistically rich populations across the globe.
Students with a major in Global Studies and/or the minor in Applied Linguistics who are interested in working on research that examines Global Health Literacy during COVID-19 should contact Professor Brantmeier (cbrantme@wustl.edu)
