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 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.