在医疗保健环境中，患者和医疗保健团队之间的有效沟通对于提供最佳癌症护理和提高癌症意识至关重要。虽然沟通在医疗保健中的重要性已得到广泛认可，但在非洲环境中，这一主题还没有得到充分研究。旨在评估癌症和肿瘤学的医学语言如何翻译成非洲语言，以及这些翻译在其文化背景下的含义。在这项跨国调查研究中在非洲，参与癌症护理和研究的卫生专业人员、社区卫生工作者、研究人员和科学家以及传统治疗师被邀请通过在线平台自愿参与在线调查。该调查向参与者（主要是卫生保健工作者）提供了癌症诊断和治疗中使用的 16 个癌症和肿瘤学术语（例如癌症、放射治疗），参与者被要求以当地语言提供这些术语（如果这些术语存在），然后直接提供或英文意思的近似翻译。该调查于 2023 年 2 月至 4 月期间开放。通过对分为 5 个主题（中性、负面、正面、语音或借用以及未知）的 16 个英语翻译术语进行主题分析，确定了跨语言重复出现的含义模式。来自 32 个国家、涵盖 44 种非洲语言的 107 份回复（鉴于开放和广泛的分发策略，无法获得回复率），大多数参与者 (63 [59%]) 年龄在 18 至 40 岁之间； 54 名（50%）为女性。癌症的翻译分为语音或借用 (34 [32%])、未知 (30 [28%])、中性 (24 [22%]) 和否定 (19 [18%])，后一类包括恐惧、悲剧、无法治愈和死亡的普遍含义。在恶性、慢性和放射治疗等术语的翻译中也发现了类似的暗示恐惧或悲剧的元素。放疗一词产生了很高比例的负面含义（24 [22%]），普遍的主题是将治疗描述为被火、热或电烧伤或燃烧，这可能会阻碍治疗。癌症沟通和非洲语言肿瘤学术语的翻译，研究结果表明，这些术语可能会导致恐惧、健康差异和护理障碍，并给卫生专业人员带来沟通困难。研究结果强调了对文化敏感的癌症术语的需求，以提高癌症意识和沟通。

Effective communication between patients and health care teams is essential in the health care setting for delivering optimal cancer care and increasing cancer awareness. While the significance of communication in health care is widely acknowledged, the topic is largely understudied within African settings.To assess how the medical language of cancer and oncology translates into African languages and what these translations mean within their cultural context.In this multinational survey study in Africa, health professionals, community health workers, researchers, and scientists involved in cancer care and research and traditional healers were invited to participate in an online survey on a voluntary basis through online platforms. The survey provided 16 cancer and oncologic terms used in cancer diagnosis and treatment (eg, cancer, radiotherapy) to participants, mostly health care workers, who were asked to provide these terms in their local languages (if the terms existed) followed by a direct or close translation of the meaning in English. The survey was open from February to April 2023.Patterns of meaning that recurred across languages were identified using thematic analysis of 16 English-translated terms categorized into 5 themes (neutral, negative, positive, phonetic or borrowed, and unknown).A total of 107 responses (response rate was unavailable given the open and widespread distribution strategy) were collected from 32 countries spanning 44 African languages, with most participants (63 [59%]) aged 18 to 40 years; 54 (50%) were female. Translations for cancer were classified as phonetic or borrowed (34 [32%]), unknown (30 [28%]), neutral (24 [22%]), and negative (19 [18%]), with the latter category including universal connotations of fear, tragedy, incurability, and fatality. Similar elements connoting fear or tragedy were found in translations of terms such as malignant, chronic, and radiotherapy. The term radiotherapy yielded a high percentage of negative connotations (24 [22%]), with a prevailing theme of describing the treatment as being burned or burning with fire, heat, or electricity, which may potentially hinder treatment.In this survey study of cancer communication and the translation of oncology terminology in African languages, the findings suggest that the terminology may contribute to fear, health disparities, and barriers to care and pose communication difficulties for health professionals. The results reinforce the need for culturally sensitive cancer terminology for improving cancer awareness and communication.