Medical Phrases |
Zambia is a landlocked country covering an area of 752,000 square kilometers. It is situated in the Southern Africa sub-region and shares borders with eight countries - Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire) and Tanzania in the North, Malawi and Mozambique in the East, Zimbabwe and Botswana in the South, Namibia in the South-West and Angola in the West.The latest estimates put Zambia's population at 9.5 million with an annual growth rate of 3.5 (CSO; 1995). Urbanization is high, accounting for over 40% of the population. Over 75% of the urban population reside in Lusaka and Copperbelt provinces.
Health in Zambia is a major challenge that is addressed by through 1,166 health institutions, 22,189 beds and 4,229 cots. Health institutions are categorised as:
Central Hospitals 3 General Hospitals 9 District Hospitals 36 Special Hospitals 3 Mission Hospitals 18 Industrial Hospitals 8 Unclassified Government Hospitals 5 Rural Health Centres 878 Urban Health Centres 206 Lusaka Province, the province of the Capital City Lusaka has four (4) districts (Chongwe-22 , Kafue-21, Luangwa-7 and Lusaka-84 urban districts with respective number of health facilities).
There are 73 tribal groups in Zambia, seven of which are official languages (Bemba, Kaonde, Lozi, Lunda, Luvale, Nyanja (Chewa) and Tonga in alphabetical order. The four major languages are Bemba, Lozi, Nyanja (Chewa) and Tonga.
The traditionary inhabitants of Lusaka Province are largely from the Bantu Botatwe tribal group (Tonga). There are some Nyanja speakers in the East and a Mashona tribal group in the South East. Lusaka City itself is metropolitan, bringing together people from all the tribal groups in Zambia. Nyanja is largely used to communicate among these groups because it is Lingua-Franca. Nyanja attained this status because it is the official indigenous language of the armed forces (Zambia Army, Zambia Air Force, Police, Zambia National Service). Nyanja is also spoken in Malawi, Southern Tanzania, parts of Zimbabwe, Mozambique and the Republic of South Africa.
Recently, Bemba which is largely spoken in Northern, Luapula, Central and Copperbelt Provinces has spread southwards to Lusaka. For the purpose of this study, I will concentrate on Bemba, Lozi, Nyanja and Tonga.
The key words in this project that need to be defined are doctor, patient and interaction. The term doctor generally refers to a person whose profession is to attend and treat sick people whereas patient is considered to be a person receiving medical treatment from a doctor in a hospital.For the purpose of this work therefore I wish to define doctor as licensed physician who provides medical treatment as opposed to a traditional doctor. A patient is one who is not feeling well and needs to consult a medical doctor for treatment or to know the cause of his or her condition. Interaction is the manner of relating to each other with a view to share or communicate feelings with each other. In case of a patient doctor relationship both, need to have a clear understanding of each other for better results.
- To enhance effective communication between a medical doctor or an elective student from a foreign country and a local patient.
- To assist those patients who cannot explain their condition in English in the absence of an interpreter.
- To intensify patient doctor relationship through any of the seven major languages used in hospitals, central, general, district, special, mission, industrial, unclassified government hospitals, rural health centers and urban health centers.
- To classify diseases in local languages: Bemba, Nyanja/Chewe, Tonga, Lozi and any other three-Kaonde, Lunda and Luvale.
- To describe external and internal human body parts.
A project of this nature is very necessary. What prompted me to come up with such a paper was after seeing the agony our foreign doctors and elective students go through when they come to Zambia for the first time. They write such strange words and phrases in their note books. I have always admired the efforts made by such doctors and students. After working for a longtime with our foreign doctors and students, one cardinal factor observed is the desire and eagerness to learn a local language so that communication between a doctor and a patient will be realised. As such, I strongly suggest if a foreign doctor or an elective student for that matter is given an opportunity to read about some of the local languages that they will expect to find being used in any of our health institutions, then it is as well good for them to acquint themselves in advance with some likely vocabulary. When they come to Zambia, they can concentrate on the usage and verify intonation of such words as used by native speakers of these langauges.
Having interacted with a lot of foreign doctors, elective students, local medical students and patients at the University Teaching Hospital and the studies that I did in Zambian languages from secondary school to university and being an indigneous Zambian, and the numerous consultations I have made with various people makes me feel very strongly that this project will be a valuable instrument for effective doctor - patient communication using any of the local languages used in the project.
This is the first project ever done in Zambia or anywhere else; in fact, I can safely call it a pilot project. The research is confined to Lusaka particulary the University Teaching Hospital where the medical library is situated. However UTH being a referal and a teaching hospital, I feel that what I have outlined in my project could be viewed as a representative of what happens else where in Zambia although under different circumstances.The project is conveniently divided into four parts and are translated into the four predominent languages of the country(Bemba, Lozi, Nyanja and Tonga).
- Part one outlines Patient-Doctor Interaction -- General Phrases on how to obtain information about the patient's illness, previous health, physical examination, medicine taking and other diagnostic steps.
- Part two is a compilation of basic Laboratory Tests (under construction) that are commonly ordered by health care professionals.
- Part three is a Check List of Diseases (under construction) that are commonly presented in the tropics.
- Part four describes External and Internal Parts of the Human Body (under construction) so that patient and doctor will have a good understanding of explaining a specific part where the pain is localised.
I wish to recommend that a starting point has been set for a more elaborate project to cover all the other major languages namely Kaonde, Lozi , Lunda and Luvale. I wish to propose that if a grant is found the study will cover all the provinces and districts of Zambia. Scholars interested in this research are encouraged to take this as a challenge.
For a majority of the English phrases, the local languages used are kalale (urban) colloquial because, in town, nobody uses pure indigenous languages. These translated phrases are suitable for the objectives of this project.
I am grateful to the following medical students who assisted me to translate from English into various local languages. The notable ones are:
Members of staff who helped me in their different capacities are:
I am indebted to some elective students who encouraged me that the translations will go a long way in solving most of their problems such as patient doctor communication in some local languages. I particularly wish to thank Mar'jolein Koen, an elective student, from University of Groninqen,the Netherlands who personally requested me to include some Obstetrics and Gynaecology terms used in the wards with patients and Andrew Clift, a postgraduate reseacher from Australia, for his concern about the few computers in the medical library.
In addition to Professor Lupando Munkoge, the following individuals have assisted with the Laboratory Tests and External and Internal Parts of the Human Body sections of the project:
May I also take this opportunity to thank my family: Cathrine Chanda, children : Chanda, Lengwe, Chola, Musonda, Mambwe, Chisanga and Kunda for always allowing me time to contribute to knowlege.
Those that I have not mentioned, it is because of space otherwise I thank them most sincerely for indirectly or directly supporting this study especially Post Basic Nursing students, University of Zambia, School of Medicine for being a wonderful lot in their use of the medical library -- Kenneth Chanda, January 14, 1998
The web pages were designed and produced by Kenneth Chanda, Leonard Rhine, Regina Cammy Shakakata, Norah Mumba and Professor Lupando Munkonge.
For further information, contact:
Kenneth Chanda/UNZA Medical Library
For hard copies, contact:
Kenneth Chanda
The University of Zambia School of Medicine
P.O. Box 50110
Lusaka, Zambia
[Table of Contents] [Alphabetical Index] [Zamnet][UNZA][UNZA Library]
Last updated February 19, 2001