Information and tools for health literacy research, practice, evaluation, talking points, collaboration, activities, guidelines, laws, standards, assessments.
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Activities / Improving health literacy in populations provides the foundation on which citizens are enabled to play an active role in improving their own health, engage successfully with community action for health, and push governments to meet their responsibilities in addressing health and health equity.
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Health literacy is about a person's ability to understand and use information to make decisions about their health. A user with low health literacy will generally struggle to: read and understand health information. know how to act on this information. know which health services to use and when to use them. Research shows that:
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Defining health literacy. Health literacy refers, broadly, to the ability of individuals to “gain access to, understand and use information in ways which promote and maintain good health”1 for themselves, their families and their communities.
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This page defines health literacy, explains its importance, and introduces how people, organizations, and communities can improve health literacy.
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Overview. Health literacy means being able to access, understand, appraise and use information and services in ways that promote and maintain good health and well-being. Health literacy means more than being able to access web sites, read pamphlets and follow prescribed health-seeking behaviours.
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Taking care of our health is part of everyday life, not just when we visit a doctor, clinic, or hospital. Health literacy can help us prevent health problems, protect our health, and better manage health problems when they arise. Even people who read well and are comfortable using numbers can face health literacy issues when
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Health literacy is a key dimension of Health 2020, the European health policy framework adopted by Mem-ber States in 2012. Health literacy is both a means and an outcome of actions aimed at promoting the empowerment and participation of people in their communities and of people in their health care.
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Weak health literacy skills are associated with riskier behaviour, poorer health, less self-management and more hospitalization and costs. Strengthening health literacy has been shown to build individual and community resilience, help address health inequities and improve health and well-being.
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Health literacy is a two-sided issue, comprising both an individual’s ability to understand and use information to make decisions about their health and care, and a ‘systems issue’, reflecting the complexity of health information and the health care system.
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