Speech, language, and hearing pathologist as health literacy and communications team strategic player

   There is already a healthcare professional that has the infodemic manager ideal skills. SLP (Speech, language pathologists. Also known as language therapists or phono-audiologists) are health transdisciplinary professionals and human communication specialists. They have at least six strong skills to manage a health and public health communication-education crisis.

   World Health Organization (WHO) is forming infodemic managers in some of the core skills that SLP professionals in the field already have. Skills like the capacity to develop critical thinking and other metacognitive skills needed to manage health information at the face-to-face level and design, monitor, adapt and evaluate programs to solve human communication problems at the community level.

So, while the WHO expands its capacities to train infodemic managers in other languages, SLP can help keep the communication and health education interventions gap closed, especially in health emergencies such as the current one.

Besides, the knowledge about the human communication process in each stage of life allows them to design strategies adjusted per age, literacy level, special needs, and socioeconomic characteristics. They have complex transdisciplinary interactions and collaborations in daily work, from social work to neurosurgery, and can adapt and focus their knowledge to get the collective goal.

   This paper explores the skills, scope, opportunities, and challenges of expanding the frontiers of SLP practice to public health communication and education in Colombia.

1. Health literacy and health equity

31. Health literacy and people with special needs