Writing about the upcoming Global Health Council's Annual Conference yesterday set off a cascade of thoughts about community health. Undoubtedly there will be papers at the conference about private-public sector partnerships, capacity building, program sustainability, cultural issues and barriers, and funding sources. One topic that I hope is not overlooked is health literacy. The level of health literacy in a community is crucial to sustaining health status imporvement gains made through community health programs. According to the American Institute of Medicine, "Health literacy is the degree to which individuals can obtain, process, and understand the basic health information and services they need to make appropriate health decisions." Community programs targeted at specific diseases or lifestyles can make a difference. But sustaining that difference in the long term requires on-going healthy decision-making in the community, and that in turn depends on an adequate level of health literacy.
Dr. Barry Weiss' November 27, 2007 article, "Assessing Health Literacy in Clinical Practice" that appeared in Medscape Today provides an overview of the level of health literacy in the United States and how low levels of health literacy translate into worse health status, more hospitalizations, and higher health care costs. According to Dr. Weiss' paper, approximately 90 million Americans (about 1/3 of the population) have such low health literacy skills that they are not able to receive, understand and use health-related information to make informed decisions about their health. The problem for the community health practitioner is complicated by the fact that the information that consumers do receive may be insufficient and/or misleading. For example, a recent study from the University of Georgia (USA) found that most prescription drug ads on American television do not present a fair balance of information regarding side effects. How then could consumers with low levels of health literacy make rational decisions based on that information?
At the Global Health Council Annual Conference I hope to hear about field experiences in two areas. First, how can health literacy be assessed in the field? Dr. Weiss provides information about tools that can be used to estimate the health literacy level of a population and individual in clinical practice in the United States. What tools are being used elsewhere and how do they compare? Second, how can health literacy improvement be successfully integrated into community health programming? In addition to links to research findings, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has a number of tools that can be used in practice settings.
At the upcoming conference I am hoping to connecting with colleagues in other countries to learn how they are dealing with health literacy. Something else to add to the benefit of making connections at an international conference.
If you have information to share on this topic, please leave a comment.
Dr. Barry Weiss' November 27, 2007 article, "Assessing Health Literacy in Clinical Practice" that appeared in Medscape Today provides an overview of the level of health literacy in the United States and how low levels of health literacy translate into worse health status, more hospitalizations, and higher health care costs. According to Dr. Weiss' paper, approximately 90 million Americans (about 1/3 of the population) have such low health literacy skills that they are not able to receive, understand and use health-related information to make informed decisions about their health. The problem for the community health practitioner is complicated by the fact that the information that consumers do receive may be insufficient and/or misleading. For example, a recent study from the University of Georgia (USA) found that most prescription drug ads on American television do not present a fair balance of information regarding side effects. How then could consumers with low levels of health literacy make rational decisions based on that information?
At the Global Health Council Annual Conference I hope to hear about field experiences in two areas. First, how can health literacy be assessed in the field? Dr. Weiss provides information about tools that can be used to estimate the health literacy level of a population and individual in clinical practice in the United States. What tools are being used elsewhere and how do they compare? Second, how can health literacy improvement be successfully integrated into community health programming? In addition to links to research findings, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has a number of tools that can be used in practice settings.
At the upcoming conference I am hoping to connecting with colleagues in other countries to learn how they are dealing with health literacy. Something else to add to the benefit of making connections at an international conference.
If you have information to share on this topic, please leave a comment.
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