Below is the URL for a new fact sheet issued by WHO on 22 December:
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/health-literacy
Key facts
- Health literacy represents the personal knowledge and competencies that accumulate through daily activities, social interactions and across generations.
- Health literacy is mediated by the organizational structures and availability of resources that enable people to access, understand, appraise and use information and services in ways that promote and maintain good health and well-being for themselves and those around them – often described as organizational health literacy.
- In the United States of America, for example, health literacy is a stronger predictor of an individual’s health status than income, employment status, education level and racial or ethnic group (1).
- Even in economically advanced countries in Europe, many children, adolescents and adults have limited health literacy skills (2).
- According to surveys in the WHO European Region, population health literacy follows a social gradient and can further reinforce existing inequalities (2).
Health literacy is a determinant of health.
EXTRACT
'All information providers, including government, civil society and health services should enable access to trustworthy information in a form that is understandable and actionable for all people...'
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org