(written by Valentina Vignolo Love)
The Trump administration recently ordered the removal of key terms from all federal government content, including documents and reports from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Terms like “person pregnant,” “transgender,” “sex assigned at birth,” “non-binary,” and “cisgender” were removed from essential health materials, impacting vital data on diseases such as HIV, influenza, and Covid-19.
In one night, twenty years of data disappeared. These terms, which were crucial for understanding the spread of various diseases and the demographics they affect, were scrubbed from the CDC’s website. This includes HIV-related data, which had been collected over two decades and used to track the disease’s impact on different populations. The CDC’s website, a major archive used by universities, hospitals, and health organisations, now lacks these essential datasets.
The removal of these terms and the erasure of critical HIV data sparked significant backlash from the scientific community. Experts argue that removing such terms undermines efforts to understand health disparities and address the specific needs of diverse groups. Without these key terms, public health officials are left without the necessary data to track how diseases, like HIV, disproportionately affect certain populations.
The absence of terms related to persons pregnant, transgender individuals, sex assigned at birth, non-binary individuals, and cisgender people creates a gap in understanding the health risks faced by these groups. The loss of such data means the public health community loses a vital tool for assessing disease transmission and for creating effective prevention and treatment strategies. The erasure of this data is a major setback for inclusive public health practices.
Moreover, this removal will have a significant impact on the translation of public health materials. Accurate translations are critical for ensuring that public health messages are accessible and meaningful to all populations. The absence of inclusive terms in English will inevitably affect the quality and accuracy of translations into other languages, as these terms are vital to conveying the full scope of health risks and disparities. Translators may find themselves unable to faithfully convey the specific nuances of health data, which could lead to miscommunication and less effective outreach to diverse communities, particularly those that rely on nuanced terms to understand their health needs.
The situation took a significant turn when a federal judge ruled that the CDC must restore all the deleted data online. This ruling forces the Trump administration into a position where it must choose to either comply with the court’s decision or continue to fight against it.
As reported by Reuters, “A federal judge on Tuesday ordered U.S. health agencies to restore websites that they abruptly took offline in response to an executive order by President Donald Trump telling them to scrub websites of gender ideology extremism.” This ruling was a victory for public health transparency, underscoring the importance of having accessible and inclusive data for the benefit of all populations.
Similarly, MedTech Dive noted, “A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Food and Drug Administration and other federal health agencies to restore websites that were removed in response to executive orders from President Donald Trump, writing that the move harmed underprivileged Americans.” This emphasises the broader impact of removing essential health information, particularly on vulnerable populations who rely on these resources for guidance.
The decision highlights the growing conflict between political agendas and public health transparency. Accurate and accessible data is critical in addressing ongoing health crises, and this ruling may have profound implications for how public health information is managed in the future. The scientific community continues to advocate for inclusive data that reflects the diverse needs of all populations.
Dr. Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at Columbia University, stressed the importance of data in addressing public health issues:
“One thing about this (COVID-19) that’s somewhat unprecedented is the speed at which new data is coming out and becoming available for mass consumption.”
This statement underscores the importance of timely, accurate, and comprehensive data. The removal of critical health information is not just a loss of data but a loss of the ability to protect vulnerable populations. Ensuring that all individuals, regardless of their identity, are represented in health data is crucial for creating effective policies and responses to public health challenges.
The impact on the translation community:
For TranslationsInLondon, a translation agency specialising in life sciences, this situation holds particular significance. Accurate and inclusive translation is a critical part of ensuring that public health information reaches diverse populations in a meaningful and effective way. The removal of important terms and data not only affects research and public health but also complicates the work of translators who must ensure that complex scientific content is accurately conveyed to international audiences.
As global health challenges, like HIV and Covid-19, continue to impact communities worldwide, it is essential that translation agencies prioritise precision and inclusivity in their work, ensuring that all people have access to the information they need to protect their health. The removal of the term “gender” in favour of “sex” in federal policies and documents is a prime example of how public health language can affect the quality of translation. This case underscores the importance of maintaining inclusive and comprehensive health data for the sake of both public health and effective translation work. Translators must continue to adapt and ensure that health messages are clear, inclusive, and precise across languages, as these factors are essential in making sure that health policies are effective and accessible to everyone.