Paula Worby (pictured on the right) and Miriam Lara-Mejia both work at Hesperian Health Guides, a non-profit publisher best known for the book Where There Is No Doctor that is used throughout the world. Hesperian has more than a dozen books on a broad range of health topics and makes almost all of that content available free online and in multiple languages through its HealthWiki platform. Hesperian also offers free mobile apps focused on reproductive health.
Miriam Lara-Mejia is the Spanish Content Manager and co-author of Hesperian’s Workers’ Guide to Health and Safety. Paula Worby, also an editor at Hesperian, is project coordinator for The NEW Where There Is No Doctor, an online resource that is always expanding with new topics and languages.
Paula Worby and Miriam Lara-Mejia talk with Helen Osborne about:
- Ways to create health materials for an international audience that not only are readable but also convey compassion and encourage action.
- The importance of gathering input and feedback from a variety of perspectives throughout the writing and editing process.
- Examples of using images, stories, and teaching techniques to introduce and reinforce essential health messages.
More ways to learn:
- Hesperian Health Guides, to learn about all of their work.
- Hesperian’s books and resources including Where There Is No Doctor, Where Women Have No Doctor, and more.
- Access Hesperian´s reproductive health apps, that are free, multilingual, private and made to use offline.
- “Developing Healthcare Materials with and For Village Health Workers,” a Health Literacy Out Loud podcast interview with Curt Wands-Bourdoiseau.
- “Translators Producing Knowledge: Where There Is No Doctor in Tamil,” by Lillian Walkover, is a case study of adapting Hesperian content to local context.
Health Literacy from A to Z: Practical Ways to Communicate Your Health Message, Second Edition (updated 2018), by Helen Osborne. Especially relevant to this podcast is the chapter, “Know Your Audience: Culture and Language.”
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