Enhancing Maternal Health Communication through Terminologies Development: A Case Study of Igbo

Abstract: Translations are used as a feeder to improve the vocabulary stock of languages. The present work is about developing language terminologies relating to childbirth, pregnancy and the mother's health. It is an attempt at bridging the gap in health communication like the Igbo patient-doctor relationship in medical diagnosis and care. This work hinges on the social reform theory for language preservation and documentation. It is a descriptive study that used a selected number of experts in medicine, linguistics, translation, health workers and some patients in focused group bombardment sessions to translate selected medical terms in the sample. The results showed that Igbo has the capacity to grow and keep abreast with terms in medical science. There are many ways of vocabulary enrichment and growth in the Igbo language within the language itself to deal with such challenges The recommendation is the replication and expansion of the study on a wider scale and for the results to be popularized by the mass and social media.