Språkkvällar (language nights)

Name of the activity: Språkkvällar (language nights)

Country/NMO: Sweden (IFMSA-Sweden)

Program: Health Systems

Contact information: [email protected]

Type of the activity: Capacity Building (Training or Workshop). Teaching and develop knowledge, skills and techniques in a particular field. While training can have any form, workshops are more formal and also include exchange of information between participants.

General description:

Access to Healthcare is a human right, but linguistic and cultural barriers often prevent this from being realized, putting patients’ security at risk and make encounters between patients and healthcare providers ineffective. We have thus partnered with Care to Translate, a company that aims to tackle this issue through a medical translation app. Our project is divided into two parts, one being the app and the other one being the language nights which we arrange in our local committees in IFMSA-Sweden.

Focus area:

Human resources for health

Problem statement:

Access to Healthcare is a human right, but linguistic and cultural barriers often prevent this from being realized. These barriers put patients’ security at risk and make encounters between patients and healthcare providers ineffective. We have thus partnered with Care to Translate, a company that aims to tackle this issue through a medical translation app.

Target groups:

Medical students, Healthcare Students

Beneficiaries:

Medical students, Healthcare Students, Doctors, Other health professionals, Migrants, Refugees, Everyone that needs help with translation within the medical system and cannot access a translator.

Objectives and indicators of success:

1. To arrange “language nights” in all local committees within IFMSA-Sweden

Indicator of success: by end of 2019 having had language nights in at least 3 different LCs. By the end of 2020, having arranged language nights in all LCs within our NMO.

2. To make available the Care to Translate Clinic App to medical students in Sweden

Indicator of success: having advertised the availability of the app to our members at least three times during 2019, through various communication methods

Methodology:

Through our partnership with Care to Translate we are able to offer the Care to Translate Clinic App to members of IFMSA-Sweden and members of other NMOs within IFMSA for free.

On a local level, we arrange “language nights” where one moderator (so far students with background in the country that is highlighted during the evening) talks about the language and the culture linked to this language. The presentations include points on cultural differences and how language barriers can impede on the right to healthcare. During the evening, students get a chance to practice the language through the app as well as to eat some local food.

Plans for evaluation:

At the end of the year we will have an evaluation meeting to discuss the events of the year and how we can progress.