Many people find it difficult to navigate the many services offered by the health care system, take care of their health and make good choices. This is especially for those true who are in disadvantaged life situations.
Health literacy concerns the ability to find, understand and use health information to make decisions that are good for you and people around you. It depends both on your personal abilities and on how well your surroundings (network and context) support and help you.
Health literacy develops throughout life and takes shape in interaction with others – in families, among friends, at school, at work, during leisure activities, and in encounters with the healthcare system.
In a time with a lot of information – including misinformation – it is more important than ever to be able to identify what is accurate and relevant for one’s health
Danish Health Authority
Introduction to health literacy and its significance for health inequality. The report outlines eight pathways to strengthening organizational health literacy and includes nine inspirational case studies.
Danish Society for Public Health
A report that, from a structural perspective, provides recommendations for strengthening health literacy in practice and at the societal level.
“Health promotion and prevention” in the book “Preventive health work”
A brief introduction to health literacy aimed at professional bachelor and master programmes such as medicine, public health and sociology.
