Health Literacy:
Putting a population in control of their own health
What is ‘Health Literacy’?
‘Health literacy’ can be understood as the ability to interpret information regarding individual or communal health and act on it.(12) It is increasingly recognised as a large contributor to an individual’s overall wellbeing. Citizens that improve their health literacy are able to make better informed decisions regarding their mental and physical health on a daily basis. In addition, these individuals are more likely to be prepared for possible large-scale public health emergencies in the future, such as COVID-19 pandemic.
COVID-19 has highlighted the necessity for global health literacy. A virus that started in one part of the world ended up on the other side of the globe within weeks, forcing many to centre their health and well-being at the forefront of their decision making. In order to protect their own well-being, many individuals had to decide whether or not to socially distance, to wear masks or to leave their homes. Meanwhile, governments had to make difficult policy decisions to protect the well-being of their citizens. The sudden and collective shock the pandemic elicited should serve as a warning. Health literacy should remain a priority for individuals across the globe because it directly affects everyone’s personal health and the health of their communities.
Outcomes for the Individual
Health literacy should be prioritized first and foremost because so many individuals could improve their health outcomes by improving their personal health literacy. A study of health literacy in Europe found that roughly half the respondents had problems with health literacy and felt incompetent in taking care of their own health and that of others.(3) Such a lack of confidence in one’s own health literacy can have a range of impacts on individual well-being. Not only can it impact health outcomes with communicable diseases like COVID-19, it can also impact health outcomes with non-communicable diseases as well. For example, health literacy is a major driver of type 2 diabetes mellitus self-management(1) and has been associated with better self-care (e.g.: adequate diet, increased exercise, foot care, etc.), adequate use of medication adherence (properly using newly prescribed medication and adherence to ongoing medication), better glycaemic control and a lower prevalence of diabetes-related complications.(2) Similar associations can be seen in other contexts such as in cancer patients,(3) smoking cessation interventions,(4) cardiovascular disease(5,6) and mental health.(7) Regardless of whether or not the health outcomes in question pertain to communicable or noncommunicable diseases, health literacy regarding global health issues can significantly aid one’s ability be proactive and negate the possibility of poor health outcomes.
Outcomes for the Community
Prioritizing health literacy can positively impact the well-being of entire communities. If promoting health literacy means that people can make better individual choices, then we as a collective can move closer toward recognizing health as a human right. Education is, at its most basic level, a human right (8) and the improvement of and equity in education is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.(9) We need to bring health literacy, as a component to education, into better focus. This can be done either through a proactive population, educating themselves, or through a government mandate. However, it has been suggested that “legal regime has no effect or a negative effect on [human rights] practice, but that global civil society has a positive impact on [human rights practice]”.(1) Although there is a sense of legitimacy surrounding human rights norms, it is the global populations’ enforcement of these – by being politically, socially, or economically involved – that human rights practices gain traction.(10) Health and health literacy as a human right therefore relies on global populations’ advocacy and involvement so that everyone may enjoy the benefits of higher standards of health literacy and, with that, higher standards of health.
A Call for Action: What can we do?
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Read before you travel
Whilst we can’t all learn about every possible disease in any possible location, reading about what might personally impact us can improve both our response to those specific problems and also the process by which we improve our global health literacy and awareness.
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“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
Many issues (e.g.: cavities, skin cancer) can be mitigated by small bouts of proactivity. Learning about these acts can improve compliance and hopefully, improve outcomes.
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Modernisation of platforms supplying health information
Unfortunately, many health organizations tend to build their own isolated web islands of “read-only” information portals and expect people to come and visit’ (14) and under-use the platforms the people already use online (e.g.: social media). Young professionals are in a unique position to combat this by sharing relevant information about health literacy through social media platforms, whether it be about a specific disease or the importance of health literacy in general.
Conclusion
Empowering individuals is the first step in achieving a myriad of benefits. People who acquire and use health literacy depending on their particular environment and social action, in turn, can improve these environments. People use health literacy to become more resilient by adopting healthier lifestyles, demanding their rights as patients or taking action to improve health in their communities. This ultimately becomes a form of social and cultural capital, which is linked to health outcomes and people's opportunities to be active for their health. Possessing and applying this type of capital increases peoples' potential to pursue healthy lifestyles that can lead to better health. In addition, studies have shown that populations with better health literacy are associated with lesser use of healthcare systems, which leads to lower healthcare expenditure.(11) In this way, we can see that educating individuals from an early age may lead to a lesser strain on healthcare systems in the future. Overall, we can recognise the individual and societal benefits of greater health literacy.
By
Members of the Editorial team
Ana-Marija Meglić, Dilana López Borbón, Joseph Blakemore, Israel Herrera-Ramirez, Nathan Ruhde and Neelam Iqbal
Acknowledgements
We would also like to thank Jovana Ilkic, Irene Blomqvist and Thembi Adams for their comments and support in reviewing and editing the original manuscript.
References
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