Articles in spanish in obstetrics & gynecology

BELIZAN J

OBSTETRICS AND GYNECOLOGY.

LIPPINCOTT WILLIAMS & WILKINS

Año: 2009 vol. 114 p. 692 - 692

0029-7844

Obstetrics & GynecologyTo the Editor:I thank the editors of Obstetrics & Gynecologyfor publishing a Spanish translationof our article, “Risk Factors for PostpartumHemorrhage in Vaginal Deliveriesin a Latin-American Population,” in theonline edition of the June issue.1Spanish is the second-most-used languagein the world, with more than 373million Spanish-speaking persons. Thereare a total of 763,723 physicians living inSpanish-speaking countries: 632,579 inLatin America, 13,092 in Spain, and 123in a small central African country, EquatorialGuinea.2 Additionally, 21,323 midwivesworking in these countries willbenefit from having full access to thescientific literature in Spanish.The vast majority of publications inobstetrics and gynecology, medicine,and science are published in English.To be up-to-date, a physician must readin English. This situation has broughtabout inequities in access to knowledgebetween and within countries—betweencountries because the more up-to-datejournals are those published in Englishspeakingcountries, and within countriesbecause within Spanish-speaking countries,those who can read English representan elite group.Latin America is a region in transition.Situations in medical care, as wellas disease patterns, have similarities tothose in developed countries as well asthose in less developed countries.3 Mypersonal experience after many yearsof working in clinical and epidemiologicalresearch and in capacity buildingin Latin America—which has granted methe opportunity to visit and interact withpersons within every country in the region—is that this initiative by the GreenJournal is a major achievement to improvethe knowledge of health professionalsin the region. There is a scarcity ofprofessionals who can read English. Inmany instances, we have been tempted topromote a Latin American journal in ourspecialty, but these projects have failedowing to a variety of reasons. I considerthe best alternative to be for a leading andwell-established journal to include selectedarticles in Spanish, as the GreenJournal proposes. I hope that this examplewill be followed by other journals in ourspecialty and also in other disciplines.There are many Latin American andSpanish-speaking medical doctors workingin the United States and Canada whocan collaborate in this initiative.I would like to express my commendationsand thanks to the editors of theGreen Journal, as well as my hopefulnessthat their first steps will be emulatedby other medical journals.Financial Disclosure: The author did not reportany potential conflicts of interest.Jose´ M. Beliza´n, MDInstitute for Clinical Effectiveness,Buenos Aires, Argentina