# Expert-verified translation of guideline updates into 20 languages within 30 days

Source: https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-data-rapid-guideline-translation/  
OnCo record `idea-data-rapid-guideline-translation` (Idea). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Most oncology guidelines exist only in English, and national adaptations lag by years and often diverge. Machine translation checked by a clinician-verifier per language could publish each recommendation update in 20 languages within 30 days, side by side with the source and with local adaptations flagged explicitly.

## Summary

Most oncology guidelines exist only in English; national adaptations lag by years and often diverge. With computable guidelines and machine translation quality now high for medical text, a service could translate each recommendation update into 20 languages with a clinician-verifier per language, publishing side by side with the source and flagging local adaptations explicitly.

## Fields

- Kind: Idea
- Last checked: 2026-09-08
- Hypothesis: Rapid translation will reduce the lag between English guideline updates and their availability in other languages from years to under 30 days and increase guideline-concordant care in non-English-speaking regions.
- Rationale: Language is a documented barrier to guideline uptake; the cost of translation was the obstacle and has collapsed.
- Proposed test: Translate one guideline's updates for one year into ten languages; measure time to availability, verifier correction rates, and access by clinicians in target countries.
- Maturity: speculative
- Actor: engineering

## Sources

- Bottleneck evidence (Knowledge reaches practice too slowly): Morris, Wooding & Grant, The answer is 17 years, what is the question (JRSM 2011): https://doi.org/10.1258/jrsm.2011.110180

## Connected records

- ideas: [Living guidelines published as versioned, computable rules](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-data-computable-living-guidelines/)
- fronts: [AI & Computation](https://onco.cc/fronts/ai-computation/)
- bottlenecks: [Knowledge reaches practice too slowly](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-knowledge-diffusion/), [Most of the world has almost no cancer care](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-global-access/)
- key papers: [The answer is 17 years, what is the question: understanding time lags in translational research](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-morris-j-r-soc-med/)

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