(DANBURY, CT USA – 4 August 2014) – Translators without Borders (TWB) reports that the organization has assisted the Center for Disease Control (CDC) to provide critical preventative information on the Ebola virus in local West African languages as well as French. The local language fact sheets are being used by the CDC to fight against the deadly outbreak affecting communities in Sierre Leone, Liberia and Guinea.
The CDC fact sheets are specifically used for affected populations. Their objective is to inform and educate them on the Ebola virus, what they can do to protect themselves and prevent the spreading, how to recognize the symptoms, treatment, and more. The fact sheets were translated by Translator without Borders into Fulani, Krio and Mandiké, 3 local languages, as well as French, to ensure access to this essential information for as many people in the affected areas as possible.
“The need to communicate in the right language is what we advocate”, explains Rebecca Petras, Program Director for Translators without Borders. “In a crisis, communications IS aid. We like to add that the communications needs to be in the right language. Yet aid workers have too much to do during a crisis – they do not have time or the expertise to focus on translation. That is where we come in. We help where the crises occur—the Balkans during flooding, the Philippines after the typhoon, West Africa during the disease outbreak—always helping aid workers communicate more effectively in local languages.” In addition to current crisis work, TWB is also currently piloting a global translation crisis relief network, testing what can be done on a global scale to ensure better response in the right language.
The French version of the Ebola fact sheet from the CDC translated by Translators without Borders is available here. The local language versions are being used directly in the field.
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