Linguistic barriers encountered by deaf women in accessing antenatal and postnatal care in Zimbabwe’s public hospitals

Twanda Matende, Evelyn Phiri, Paul Svongoro, Patson Kufanunesu, Kudzai Gotosa — Sat, 13 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This article explores the marginalization of Sign language in Zimbabwe's health sector, particularly in the context of antenatal and postnatal care. It reveals the linguistic challenges faced by Deaf women, who often use spoken language for communication. The study also explores the attitudes of nurses and doctors towards Sign language in the health sector. Data were collected through questionnaires, focus group discussions, and interviews with members of the Deaf community. The research found that communication difficulties were significant barriers for Deaf women seeking care. The lack of sign language interpreters and negative attitudes towards the Deaf by some health professionals further exacerbated these barriers. The lack of a policy framework directing the use and awareness of Sign Language in hospitals further exacerbated these issues. The study recommends prioritizing Sign Language in public institutions to ensure Health Rights and a health language policy that guarantees the use of local languages in all public life, including health.

Hindrances to sustainable collaborative governance in delivering low-income housing

Gelly Neshamba, DB Jarbandhan, V Mlambo — Sat, 13 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The purpose of this paper is to examine the hindrances to sustainable collaborative governance (SCG) in the delivery of low-income housing (LIH) in the city of Windhoek (CoW), Namibia. Using thematic analysis, nine themes about the hindrances to SCG in the provisioning of LIH in CoW were identified. Data were collected from 150 purposively sampled participants from the CoW, entailing local community leaders, CoW representatives, trade union representatives, National Housing Enterprise (NHE) representatives, private sector representatives, and civil society representatives. The primary qualitative data were analysed using NVivo to gain insights into the challenges faced by residents of low-income districts of CoW. The research findings confirmed that the efficient and effective delivery of decent LIH in the CoW is hampered by limited resources, lack of political will, red tape, rent-seeking behaviour and nepotism, discrimination, COVID-19, cost of land, high input costs, and poor urban planning. Based on the findings, the study contributed to the existing body of knowledge about housing delivery challenges. Furthermore, the study findings assist policymakers, local authorities, and the national government in promulgating and implementing policies to mitigate the hindrances to the delivery of LIH in CoW.

Artha Journal of Social Sciences

Linguistic barriers encountered by deaf women in accessing antenatal and postnatal care in Zimbabwe’s public hospitals

Hindrances to sustainable collaborative governance in delivering low-income housing