Teaching Everyone to Speak Health Care

The NIH has established the Language Access Plan to help individuals who may have trouble understanding and being understood when they try to get health care.

Federal Practitioner. 2015 June;32(6):e12

June 25, 2015|Federal Practitioner

Nearly 20% of the U.S. population speaks a language other than English at home, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and these individuals may have trouble understanding and being understood when they try to get health care. “Language can be a clear, profound barrier to health literacy,” NIH says. To help address their challenges, NIH has established the Language Access Plan, coordinated by the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.

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In line with President Obama’s Executive Order mandating improved access for people with limited English proficiency, NIH has, for example, implemented a comprehensive foreign language interpretation system within its Clinical Center and provides written translations of informed consent forms for all NIH Institutes and Centers. Many NIH Centers also post translated materials, such as videos and e-books, on key websites and social media. The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, for instance, now offers publications in Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean and regularly tweets in both English and Spanish.

For more information on the Language Access Plan, visit https://edi.nih.gov/consulting/language-access-program/about.