We don’t know about you, but we can’t believe 2022 is almost over. Whatever else we might say about it, it was certainly an interesting year. The focus in health and pharma news shifted from Covid-19-related stories to a myriad of other issues, including some surprises. And language and translation, naturally, continued to evolve. As the year comes to an end, we’d like to spotlight some of the articles we most enjoyed working on in 2022. If you missed them when they were first published, we hope you enjoy discovering them. And if you’re a regular reader of our blog, we hope you enjoy looking back with us. - Should health and pharma ads be funny? Back in January, we looked at a new trend in marketing and awareness campaigns: using humor to deal with serious situations. Younger generations tend to prefer humor over false gravity or a lack of sincerity. Of course, using humor can be tricky when it comes to health issues, so we included some strategies as well. - Why is Wordle so popular - and can it be used in healthcare marketing? Our most popular article of the year was about…the most popular free online game of the year: Wordle. Taking a look at what made it go viral and how its fame could be used for marketing and awareness campaigns was a challenge almost as fun as our daily dose of Wordle itself. - The truth about why it's hard to put medical writing in plain language Sometimes, we like to investigate a longstanding problem in the healthcare and pharma community. When we dug into what’s really challenging about putting medical writing into plain language, we discovered some troubling truths. - In the telehealth revolution, disabled patients face major medical care barriers The pandemic has changed our world in many ways. One of these is the rise of telemedicine. While telehealth is a convenient change for many patients, it’s left others behind. In one of our favorite articles of the year, we examined a CNN Health report about the barriers to care that disabled people still face. - Three unexpected ways celebrities raised health awareness this March From the notorious moment Will Smith slapped Chris Rock for making a joke about his wife’s alopecia, to Bruce Willis’s heartbreaking aphasia diagnosis, March was a month in which -- whether they planned to or not -- stars made the world pay attention to several often underrepresented health conditions. We looked at three examples, as well as takeaways for health providers and organizations who also want to spread awareness. - Healthcare professionals, it's time to take TikTok seriously. Though we also paid attention to the drawbacks, we had fun looking at how TikTok has become an important way for healthcare professionals and advocates to communicate with a potential 1 billion users. - How brands and awareness campaigns can do Pride Month right In June, we shared experts’ advice on how companies and organizations can celebrate Pride Month with sincerity and respect towards the LGBTQI+ community. -Why events and conferences need interpreters We were surprised to learn how few conferences organized in the US and UK hire interpreters, even though a majority are multilingual events. - How Pantene’s new campaign ticks all the boxes for modern health and wellness advertising We were thrilled to find the perfect example of a wellness campaign: Pantene’s Miracles Silky & Glowing hair care line, which embraced inclusivity, connection, and sincerity - not to mention actually collaborated with and did something to help the blind and visually impaired community, a group targeted by the campaign’s creators. - Can AI localize and transcreate content? Some claim that AI can replace real translators and transcreators when it comes to localizing content. We took an in-depth look, and came away with a clear picture of the strengths and weaknesses of machine translation today. - Why was that major colonoscopy study so badly misinterpreted? In October, the results of a study on colonoscopy effectiveness made headlines for all the wrong reasons - misleading language has led to a misunderstanding that could put patients’ lives at risk. Like many of our colleagues in the press, we hope that our article will help identify where reporting went wrong and share what the study really found. -Six fascinating facts revealed by this major telehealth study - The previous article on our list was about wrongly reported study results. On the other hand, we were impressed by the scope of The Chartis Group and Kythera Labs’ two-year study of telehealth habits. Instead of using a relatively small pool of respondents, researchers examined a whopping 400 million insurance claims related to telehealth filed from 2020-2022. The results were fascinating. Over the course of this often unpredictable year, one constant for us has been our satisfaction in sharing healthcare and pharma translation news with you. Thanks for reading!
All of us at aiaTranslations wish you a 2023 filled with happiness and good health!
Contact Our Writer – Alysa Salzberg