A new app is helping Tongan patients, families and medical professionals better understand each other.
Tala ‘Uhinga Fakafaito’o is a Tongan medical dictionary app that anyone can download from the app store. The app helps speakers of lea faka-Tonga – the Tongan language – to understand medical terms and navigate the health system confidently.
The app was developed by Kiwa Digital in partnership with Dr Aivi and Dr Viliami Puloka from Puloka Health Consultancy. The project was supported through the Pacific Languages Community Fund, a Ministry for Pacific Peoples initiative that supports community groups across Aotearoa New Zealand to learn, use, and celebrate their Pacific languages.
The app includes glossaries in Tongan and English of medical terms, audio options to listen to pronunciation, medical illustrations, and offline access so content can be accessed any time. The first Tongan medical dictionary, the app is a groundbreaking health and cultural innovation.
All Tala ‘Uhinga Fakafaito’o translations and material have been created by health and language experts and reviewed by the Tongan Language Society, making sure the translations are accurate and culturally aligned.
The app is arranged in 22 body systems, with illustrated diagrams and labelled anatomy in both English and Tongan.
It aims to reduce language barriers and make navigating the health system easier for Tongan families and speakers and improve health equity for Pacific communities, says Dr Viliami Puloka (pictured above centre).
“Tala ‘Uhinga Fakafaito’o has several purposes. It helps maintain lea faka-Tonga, gives Tongan families a practical tool to use during consultations, and helps make health information more accessible for Tongan speakers.”
“Family members are sometimes relied on to translate complex medical information during appointments, which can be uncomfortable or difficult, and the app can reduce that reliance on family,” says Dr Puloka.
“It can also help non-Tongan health professionals connect with Tongan patients, bringing the language into everyday settings,” he adds.
Developing the app and its content presented unique challenges, as many English medical words or terms don’t translate directly into Tongan.
“The guide to this task consisted of creating Tongan words that were simple to understand in Tongan, medically accurate and specific, use Tongan concepts that are meaningful to the Tongans, and are still respectable and culturally sensitive,” says Dr Puloka.
“Before the beta version of the app, there was wide consultation amongst Tongans in New Zealand as well as in Tonga, especially with medical colleagues and health staff. Contributors to the creation of terms included Tongan experts of various fields like psychiatry, dentistry and nutrition.”
Dr Puloka says he is proud to hear feedback from users of the app, with one saying, “this app brings the heart and spirit of Tonga into medical language.”
“Puloka Health Consultancy Group will continue to add, refine and review the app and we are excited about the prospective impacts as we follow the feedback we are collecting within the app.”