Patients and public help create multilingual resources for expectant parents

4 Jun 2025, 3:21 p.m.

A picture of the opening sequence from the animation that says 'A Prenatal sequencing test' on a blue stripe over red and pale orange splashes

A group of clinicians and researchers at GOSH have developed information about a test offered in pregnancy called prenatal sequencing in the UK’s 12 most common languages.

Through working with families who were offered this test in pregnancy, the research team at GOSH learned that families need more accessible information about prenatal sequencing. To meet this need, they worked with experts and parents with lived experience of prenatal testing to develop an animation that explains what to expect if you are offered this test. The animation was subtitled but was only available in English.

Improving access

The same cartoon image shown six times with different language subtitles underneath.

Through funding from the NIHR GOSH Biomedical Research Centre, the animation has now been translated into the UK’s 11 most spoken languages after English: Bengali, Urdu, Romanian, Polish, Arabic, Greek, Mandarin, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, and French.

This suite of resources is aimed at parents undergoing prenatal sequencing in the current NHS service. Offering the animation in multiple languages contributes to health equity, ensuring that more parents are able to access information about prenatal sequencing in a format that best suits their needs and in their first language.  You can find all the videos on an introduction to prenatal testing for families.

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