In the United States, lack of health coverage and the inability to speak English is, for millions of Americans, a pressing concern, and for some, literally a matter of life or death. A growing number of translation services workers have received medical training and are working to make healthcare accessible to 5% of Americans who cannot speak English fluently. Removing the communications gap between doctors and non-English speaking patients and other problems of illness and health care in the United States and throughout the world are just some of the things that translators do on a daily basis.
To more fully appreciate the services than language translation companies requires a sociological review of health issues. The review looks at why certain social groups experience more health problems than others and how social forces affect and are affected by health and illness. We begin by looking at patterns of health and illness throughout the world.
Patterns of Health and Illness Throughout the World
In making international comparisons, researchers, government employees, economists, and others often group countries into one of three broad categories according to their economic status: (1) developed countries have a comparatively high gross national income per capita and diverse economies; (2) developing countries have comparatively low gross national income per capita, and less diversified economies that tend to be based on agricultural production; and (3) least developed countries are the poorest countries of the world.
Patterns of health and disease uncover alarming differences between developed countries, developing countries, and the minimally developed countries. Future posts will focus on health and illness from a global perspective, medical translation workers will explain patterns of infant mortality, life expectancy and disease throughout the world. We will also be discussing worldwide health problems that have created special needs for language translators including AIDS, obesity, and mental illness.