Abstract
Around 10% of people in the world live with diabetes. With such a large percentage of the global population impacted, understanding this disease and its treatment is extremely important. Health inequities are major deterrents to healthcare: the democratization of healthcare, necessitated in the biomedical ethic of justice, requires the distribution of healthcare to all peoples. People in marginalized groups may find that seeking medical care requires extra burden. Notwithstanding the extraordinary expenses associated with medical treatment in some instances, language may be another source of inequity. This research analyses the W.H.O.’s International Diabetes Day 2023 Instagram campaign. Through a linguistic and visual semiotic lens this campaign is dissected and its usefulness is discussed. Results show that this type of campaign, using non-jargonous language and simplified illustrations may be a model for improved health communication. This type of patient education may be accessible to lower people with lower literacy levels and could resonate more easily with marginalized groups rather than the standard leaflet distributed on the same topic. This work calls for fairer access to healthcare by removing the high literacy barrier that comes with medical language.
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
2024 Special Focus—Health for Democracy, Democracy for Health
KEYWORDS
Health Literacy, Public Health, Diabetes
