What is the Evidence on Existing Policies and Linked Activities and Their Effectiveness for Improving Health Literacy at National, Regional and Organizational Levels in the WHO European Region?
What is the Evidence on Existing Policies and Linked Activities and Their Effectiveness for Improving Health Literacy at National, Regional and Organizational Levels in the WHO European Region?

Author: Who Regional Office for Europe

Publisher: World Health Organization

Published: 2018-08-02

Total Pages: 52

ISBN-13: 9289053194

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The report identified policies and other relevant documents through an evidence review of peer-reviewed and grey literature supplemented by an enquiry of experts in health health literacy and policy in the Region and by health literacy policies included in the most recent peer-reviewed document on health literacy activities published in the Region (European Union (EU) countries only: HEALIT4EU). Further efforts to identify policies from countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States were unfruitful. Based on this evidence synthesis the following policy considerations are proposed: - consider the existing policies and related activities gathered in this review to develop or enhance health literacy policies and related activities to benefit citizens patients and communities; - broaden the range of areas of activity required for holistic health literacy policies to include the lived environment the workplace the media and digital/e-health at all societal levels ? individual community organization and system (legislative); - strengthen the evidence base for health literacy at all societal levels to ensure that policies address needs specific to the national or local context; -incorporate robust qualitative and quantitative evaluations into health literacy policies and interventions ? quantitative methods could include pre- and post-activity health literacy evaluations of evidence of health social and economic effects at all levels; and ?incorporate facilitators of successful implementation such as intersectoral working political leadership and strategies to overcome cultural barriers into health literacy policy. Member States would benefit from adopting such comprehensive frameworks and using metrics to design effective policies that support the development of a health-literate Europe.

What is the evidence on the methods frameworks and indicators used to evaluate health literacy policies programmes and interventions at the regional national and organizational levels?
What is the evidence on the methods frameworks and indicators used to evaluate health literacy policies programmes and interventions at the regional national and organizational levels?

Author: Centers of Disease Control

Publisher: World Health Organization

Published: 2019-09-11

Total Pages: 88

ISBN-13: 9289054328

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Health literacy can be defined as the capacity of individuals families and communities to access understand appraise and apply health information in order to make judgements and take decisions in everyday life concerning health care disease prevention and health promotion in order to maintain or improve their quality of life. It is considered to be a social determinant of health and one of the key pillars in health promotion. Low health literacy is associated with poorer health more illness and health inequalities and it may make health systems less cost-effective. Evidence from the 2011 health literacy survey indicated that almost half of the adult population in eight Member States of the European Union had suboptimal general health literacy. Responses have included initiation of health literacy networks policies programmes and interventions at the regional national and organizational levels. These initiatives require monitoring using frameworks and indicator sets that produce consistent and comparable population data and evaluation to determine the effectiveness of the policies and interventions.

Gaps and Actions in Health Improvement from Hong Kong and Beyond
Gaps and Actions in Health Improvement from Hong Kong and Beyond

Author: Ben Yuk Fai Fong

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2023-10-15

Total Pages: 518

ISBN-13: 9819944910

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This book provides a timely review on what has been accomplished, and what remains amiss, following the World Health Organization’s 1978 ‘Health for All’ campaign, by identifying enduring gaps in health care within a global context. The WHO declaration of "Health for All by the Year 2000" mapped out a road towards primary health care for all people and demarcated it as essential for human progress in terms of economic development and social justice. However, 45 years have gone by, and most societies and countries have yet achieved 'health for all’, despite so much having changed in technology, disease patterns, and population demographics. In promoting community health and improving service delivery, the book advocates the development and implementation of “All For Health” strategies to steer stakeholders in the right direction towards universal health care. The book covers the gaps and actions in health improvements, the ‘All For Health’ strategies, and the Health in All Policies (HiAP), reviewing and discussing issues through both Asian and international examples. Contributors include both academics and practitioners from diverse professional backgrounds including medicine, nursing, pharmacy, allied health, dietetics, social sciences, life sciences, education, business, administration, law, and public policy. Essential to scholars in public health and related disciplines, this book is also useful to policymakers, community and public health practitioners, and health care executives and interns.

Health for All Policies
Health for All Policies

Author: Scott L. Greer

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2024-02-01

Total Pages: 374

ISBN-13: 1009467743

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Factors outside of healthcare services determine our health and this involves many different sectors. Health for All Policies changes the argument about inter-sectoral action, from one focusing on health and the health sector to one based on co-benefits – a 'Health for All Policies' approach. It uses the Sustainable Development Goals as the framework for identifying goals across sectors and summarizes evidence along two causal axes. One is the impact of improved health status on other SDGs, e.g. better educational and employment results. The other is the impact of health systems and policies on other sectors. The 'Health for All Policies' approach advocated in this book is thus a call to improve health to achieve goals beyond health and for the health sector itself to do better in understanding and directing its impact on the world beyond the healthcare it provides. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Health Literacy
Health Literacy

Author: Who Regional Office for Europe

Publisher:

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 85

ISBN-13: 9789289000154

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As societies grow more complex and people are increasingly bombarded with health information and misinformation, health literacy becomes essential. People with strong health literacy skills enjoy better health and well-being, while those with weaker skills tend to engage in riskier behavior and have poorer health. With evidence from the recent European Health Literacy Survey, this report 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 report can be used as a tool for spreading awareness, stimulating debate and research and, above all, for informing policy development and action.

Health Literacy in Clinical Practice and Public Health
Health Literacy in Clinical Practice and Public Health

Author: R.A. Logan

Publisher: IOS Press

Published: 2020-06-23

Total Pages: 616

ISBN-13: 1643680757

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“Health literacy is the ultimate global currency of health and well-being. Without health literacy, medicine fails, public health fails, and people pay the cost for these failures with their lives. As this book goes to press, the world is confronted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Improving health literacy becomes increasingly important if we are to successfully confront the challenges that stress our systems of medicine and public health like never before.” (Richard H. Carmona, M.D., M.P.H., FACS, former Surgeon General of the United States, in his foreword to this book.) Two years ago, HTI published the book Health Literacy: New Directions in Research, Theory and Practice. Together with that earlier volume, this book: Health Literacy in Clinical Practice and Public Health: New Initiatives and Lessons Learned at the Intersection with other Disciplines, strives to enumerate and expand our understanding of the multidisciplinary connections which underpin the field of health literacy. The book’s balance between research and practice is a response to the feedback the editors received about the previous publication, which focused more on HL theory and research. With reports of specific health literacy research initiatives and interventions, particularly in clinical practice and public health, the book covers contemporary health literacy research and practice and is divided into three sections. Section one explores health literacy’s capacity to foster progress in clinical practice and public health; section two provides insights into health literacy initiatives and lessons learned from diverse healthcare stakeholders; and section three examines health literacy’s similarities with – and differences from – related health research disciplines. The book sets the practice and research of health literacy on an evidence-based, thoughtful, effective, efficient, and applied course. As Dr Richard Carmona says in his foreword: “It is enthusiastically recommended for all health and medical practitioners and researchers.”

Communities in Action
Communities in Action

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2017-04-27

Total Pages: 583

ISBN-13: 0309452961

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In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.

International Handbook of Health Literacy
International Handbook of Health Literacy

Author: Ullrich Bauer

Publisher: Policy Press

Published: 2019-07-31

Total Pages: 768

ISBN-13: 1447344537

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Available Open Access under CC-BY-NC licence. Health literacy addresses a range of social dimensions of health, including knowledge, navigation and communication, as well as individual and organizational skills for accessing, understanding, evaluating and using information. Particularly over the past decade, health literacy has globally become a major public health concern as an asset for promoting health, wellbeing and sustainable development. This comprehensive handbook provides an invaluable overview of current international thinking about health literacy, highlighting cutting edge research, policy and practice in the field. With a diverse team of contributors, the book addresses health literacy across the life-span and offers insights from different populations and settings. Providing a wide range of major findings, the book outlines current discourse in the field and examines necessary future dialogues and new perspectives.