The World Health Organisation (WHO) Europe has added a further book to their series of WHO solid facts. This time the report focuses on the issue of health literacy.
July 11, 2013 -The significance of literacy and health literacy as crucially important determinants of health is being increasingly recognised. People with strong health literacy skills enjoy better health and well-being, whereas those with weaker skills tend to engage in riskier behaviour and have poorer health. Despite this knowledge, both remain neglected areas of public health action and research.
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As one extracts of the WHO states: “as societies grow more complex and people are increasingly bombarded with health information and misinformation and confront complex health care systems, becoming a health-literate person has become a growing challenge”.
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The European Health Literacy Survey, (HLS-EU), a consortium led by Maastricht University, has builded the groundwork of the report. With the evidence of the HLS-EU, the WHO book “identifies practical and effective ways public health and other sector authorities and advocates can strengthen health literacy in a variety of settings, including educational settings, workplaces, marketplaces, health systems, new and traditional media and political arenas”. The HLS-EU found that nearly half of all adults (47%) across eight countries have ‘inadequate’ or even ‘problematic’ health literacy skills.
The WHO solid facts report addresses various aspects of health literacy. On one hand, it discusses the background and causes of health literacy, on the other it analyses the impacts and recommends plans of action and delivers examples of successful projects, such as that of the ‘Netherlands Health Literacy Alliance’. Furthermore, it emphasises that policies should be developed at local, national and European level, for changes to be secured. For “politicians, professionals, civil society and the private sector can all contribute to addressing health literacy challenges”.
In the same vein, the European Council is also keen to see Member States and the European Commission reporting their actions to improve literacy levels at all ages. The Commission should also be ensuring that Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) in education fully addresses both the challenges and opportunities of digitalisation and new technologies in relation to literacy.
In a nutshell, health literacy can be seen as a motor to reduce inequalities within groups of people with poor health, who are experiencing problems accessing health systems and healthcare. By learning how to take care of their health conditions at home, healthy behaviours can be promoted and people can gain the competencies to make healthy decisions.
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– WHO full Report: Health literacy – The solid facts
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