Health literacy is a term often used to describe a wide-ranging set of skills which help people make better decisions in health-related issues. These skills include things like a basic understanding of the science behind health care, the ability to learn new information about health, an understanding of how to communicate with doctors, and an awareness of lifestyle factors that affect healthiness. Many experts believe that healthcare literacy often plays a big role in determining someone's overall health and life expectancy.
There is a fairly big difference between healthcare literacy and the normal definitions of literacy. Reading can be an important factor in health literacy, but it is not the only issue. Even if people can read well, if they do not seek out the right kind of information, they might not know enough about health-related issues to take the best possible care of themselves. People who live in countries where their language is not the native tongue also have problems because most of the information around them is usually geared toward people who speak the majority language, so they may fall behind when it comes to information on the latest research, or they might also have trouble communicating with their physicians.
Health literacy is considered important because it generally plays a role in predicting someone’s lifetime health. For example, if people keep up with the latest information on things like proper nutrition and cancer-causing substances, they may be better-equipped to make good decisions. People who don't pay attention to these subjects will often continue to make dangerous decisions without ever realizing they are putting themselves in peril.
Another reason that health literacy can play an important role is the question of decision-making. In many cases, people may find that two different doctors give them contradictory information, and then a third source of information might arise that contradicts both of the doctors. Situations like these generally require the patient to demonstrate some solid decision-making skills, utilizing critical thinking in order to determine which source is more credible. The patient may also need a good general knowledge of places where the claims of different information sources can be investigated.
Many governments consider the improvement of health literacy to be important for a variety of reasons, and some have even launched programs to help better educate the public about health care. When people make better health decisions, it has the potential to drive down healthcare costs. Since many countries spend a lot of money on government-funded health programs, these financial motives can play an important role in driving governments to take action.
