Translations

WHO is committed to open and equitable access to, and dissemination of, data. Through the development, release and iteration of data.who.int WHO will consistently improve access to data in pursuit of helping everyone access, trust and act on health data, reflecting WHO’s data principles. Among other commitments, these principles commit the Organization to treat data as a public good and to strengthen the global ecosystem of public health data.

WHO's multilingual websites, publications and other resources ensure that public health information reaches the people who need it in the languages they can understand. This makes access to health information both more equitable and more effective.

The multilingual provision of data bridges gaps and fosters understanding between people. It allows WHO to guide public health practices, reach out to international audiences and achieve better health outcomes worldwide more effectively.

Approach to internationalization on data.who.int

The multilingual content and translated pages of this website combine the work of WHO’s translation services, computer-assisted translation tools (in cooperation with the United Nations), machine translation, user testing and quality assurance processes. The use of machine translation complements the work of professional human translators and expands the scope of available multilingual content.

Machine translation

Access to timely and understandable health data is consistently in demand by users of WHO’s web services. Adoption of machine translation for data.who.int as complementary tooling aims to reduce the risk of users not being able to access data in a language they speak or understand. This is in recognition that not all users have access to automatic translation tools, and that not all consumption contexts or digital tools are able to provide users with the ability to translate content themselves into a language that they can understand. All numeric statistics within the website are generated using the same consistent and harmonized source data, powered by the tooling of the World Health Data Hub and does not require translation. As some of the written content on data.who.int has been translated using machine translation software, the accuracy of translation cannot be guaranteed, with pending revision, subject to the availability of translation resources.

What can I do to improve the translation quality?

The WHO Division of Data, Analytics and Delivery for Impact, in collaboration with other WHO colleagues, UN system agencies and other collaborating partners, is engaged to improve upon the outputs of the adopted machine translation tooling through trained machine learning and quality assurance processes. The most sophisticated software still cannot translate with the fluency of a native speaker or professional translator. If you encounter a translation that does not appear to be accurate, please contact us here with any further details.

Disclaimer

This website provides multilingual content for the benefit of WHO Member States and visitors to the website. For content that is translated using machine translation, WHO does not own, manage, or control any aspect of the technology and is not responsible for the translations provided. The World Health Organization does not provide any warranties, assurances, or guarantees as to the accuracy, reliability, or timeliness of the translations provided. We can only verify the validity and accuracy of the information provided in English. In the event of any inconsistency between the English and the machine translation, the original English version shall be the binding and authentic version. Viewers who rely on internationalized information on the website do so at their own risk. WHO shall not be liable for any inaccuracies or errors in the translation and shall not accept liability for any loss, damage, or other issue, including without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage arising from or in connection with use of multilingual versions of data.who.int. By using the website, you understand and agree to this disclaimer. If there are any concerns regarding the accuracy of the information presented within the translated versions of the website, please refer to the English language website or contact us regarding any translation that does not appear to be accurate to help improve the multilingual provision of data for the world.