As part of an annual tour to Ghana, students from Indiana University, USA, paid a courtesy call on Vice-Chancellor Prof. Nana Aba Appiah Amfo at her residence. The visit facilitated a direct interaction between the students and the Vice-Chancellor, while providing a unique learning experience for the visiting students.
Prof. Nana Aba Appiah Amfo warmly welcomed the team and delivered a talk on the subject “Language, Culture and Health within the Ghanaian Context.”
In her presentation, Prof. Amfo underscored the critical roles that culture and language play in healthcare delivery. She highlighted the challenge of language barriers in healthcare, citing an example from her experience in a courtroom, where she pondered the potential consequences of inaccurate interpretation. “I sat in a courtroom once and I was wondering how many people might have gone to jail due to inaccurate interpretation,” she said.
The Vice-Chancellor suggested that language and communication training, including sign language, should be enforced in the training of healthcare providers. “One of the recommendations we have included in our work is to have trained language experts as part of our medical team for effective healthcare delivery,” she stated.
Vice-Chancellor Prof. Nana Aba Appiah Amfo
She encouraged the students to take a keen interest in learning new languages to support their career growth and impact on society.
Ms. Naa Amanua Ankrah, a language enthusiast and Senior Administrative Assistant at the Office of the Vice-Chancellor, provided the students with an overview of Ghana and its diverse population. She mentioned that Ghana has over 81 spoken and documented languages, including Ewe, Dangme, Akan and Hausa, with English being the official language and Akan, the most frequently used local dialect.
Ms. Ankrah highlighted that language barriers significantly challenge healthcare delivery in Ghana, leading to issues such as misdiagnosis and incorrect prescriptions due to misunderstanding.
She pointed out the lack of technical medical terminologies in local languages, which complicates communication between healthcare professionals and patients. “In most cases, there is an absence of technical words used in medical practice in our local languages that makes it difficult for health practitioners to explain certain health conditions to patients,” she explained.
Visiting students of Indiana University at the Vice-Chancellor's residence.
In concluding her presentation, Ms. Ankrah suggested that healthcare practitioners should be trained in additional local languages to enhance healthcare delivery in Ghana, ensuring safety and satisfaction for both healthcare professionals and patients.
The students from Indiana University were led by Prof. Cecilia Obeng of the School of Public Health, Indiana University.
