By: Hope K
Explore the challenges of low health literacy and its impact on individuals and communities. Learn about strategies for improvement, the importance of education, and how factors like income and age influence health outcomes.
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“Health literacy is more than just reading a prescription label—it’s about making informed decisions that impact your well-being.”
– anonymous
When it comes to health, understanding your situation and making informed decisions during complex scenarios is crucial. Health literacy helps you respond effectively to your body and environment, and strong health literacy can also improve your long-term health.
In recent decades, countries have made efforts to improve their citizens’ health literacy, but it continues to be an ongoing challenge. To understand the barriers and advancements in health literacy, it’s important to first define what “health literacy” means.
Understanding Health Literacy
Health literacy is the ability to receive, understand, assess, and apply health information to your personal situation (Sørensen, 2013). It’s crucial for making informed decisions about your health, especially since illness or accidents are unpredictable. A strong health knowledge foundation improves your chances of staying healthy.
Health literacy isn’t just for individuals; community health literacy involves understanding how environmental and social factors influence health (Sørensen, 2012). Since the 1970s, governments have increasingly recognized its importance, making strides to improve citizens’ health literacy.
While the UN doesn’t associate health literacy with a specific sustainable development goal, it recognizes that improving it is vital for achieving health, education, and poverty reduction goals (World Health Organization).
Roadblocks to Improving Health Literacy
Health literacy remains low even in “economically advanced” countries (World Health Organization, 2024). This is especially concerning as low health literacy is linked to poor health outcomes, particularly among young people (Amanu, 2023). Therefore, improving health literacy is crucial. However, the absence of a clear, standardized definition of health literacy hinders the development of effective strategies.
One challenge is the lack of research on health literacy. For example, a study analyzing health literacy studies among young people in Africa found only 17% met the required criteria (Amanu, 2023). Without understanding the current state of health literacy, it’s difficult to implement targeted interventions, as limited studies make it hard to separate general trends from outliers.
Much of the health literacy conversation has focused on individuals, leaving gaps in community health literacy. Since health issues involve multiple stakeholders, all parties must be health literate for the best outcomes. Sørensen (2012) also notes that community and individual health literacy are often not adequately distinguished, leading to missed improvement opportunities.
Lastly, factors such as education, age, and income affect the ability to develop and use health literacy, as well as access to trustworthy health information and services (World Health Organization, 2024).
Addressing and Improving Health Literacy
To combat roadblocks and setbacks, institutions such as the UN have incorporated strategies to improve health literacy. The WHO encourages and supports countries in ongoing evaluations of health literacy (World Health Organization, 2024). These comprehensive evaluations provide information that can help both individuals and groups, and the real-time information allows countries to stay informed when unique circumstances arise.
Governments across the globe have also worked to introduce easier access to health information. For example, multiple countries have introduced pictorial or color-based warnings for food and tobacco products. The labeling allows individuals to become more aware of the health factor in what they consume, and the visual aspect helps to cut across language barriers (World Health Organization).
Some countries have begun to incorporate health literacy when planning education courses (Health Literacy, 2021). For example, France includes a health education course “for pre-school to secondary students,” and Mexico offers a health literacy program for “vulnerable adults” (Health Literacy, 2021 p. 39). By incorporating health into early education and offering resources that engage individuals in the health-decision process, countries equip individuals to make informed personal health decisions.
Health Literacy and Your Impact
For health literacy to continue to improve at both the individual and community level, citizens and governments will need to work together. Governments can contribute, but it is also up to each individual to engage in the process. By growing your sense of health literacy, you can take better care of yourself, make more confident decisions during stressful medical situations, and contribute to your community’s future.
References
Amanu A, A., Birhanu, Z., & Godesso, A. (2023). Health Literacy Among Young People in Africa: Evidence Synthesis. Risk management and healthcare policy, 16, 425–437. https://doi.org/10.2147/RMHP.S399196.
Health literacy around the world: policy approaches to wellbeing through knowledge and empowerment. (2021). The Economist Intelligence Unit. https://impact.economist.com/perspectives/sites/default/files/lon_-_es_-_health_literacy_paper_v8_0.pdf.
Sørensen, K., Van den Broucke, S., Fullam, J., Doyle, G., Pelikan, J., Slonska, Z., Brand, H., & (HLS-EU) Consortium Health Literacy Project European (2012). Health literacy and public health: a systematic review and integration of definitions and models. BMC public health, 12, 80. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-12-80.
World Health Organization. (n.d.). Health Promotion: The mandate for health literacy. https://www.who.int/teams/health-promotion/enhanced-wellbeing/ninth-global-conference/health-literacy.
World Health Organization. (2024, August 5). Health Literacy. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/health-literacy.