October is Health Literacy Month!

It’s October – Health Literacy month. We’ve still much work ahead to improve how we deliver actionable health information for the nine out of ten U.S. adults who struggle to understand it. We know health literacy is complex and multi-faceted. It involves demands by the healthcare system which often surpass people’s ability to comprehend and appropriately respond to those demands in order to support personal well-being. This month is a good reminder that low health literacy has real-world consequences, since it’s well documented that individuals with low health literacy suffer poorer health outcomes. And it is precisely this aspect – that low health literacy worsens health disparities among the most vulnerable populations – which makes addressing this persistent challenge so compelling. Health Literacy Month highlights the importance of doing our part to make health information understandable and actionable. We can do much to promote health literacy within our communities, from offering choices of health information resources that are easy-to-read, available in other languages, or are offered in an audio or visual format, to hosting health programming that responds to community health needs. Such programs create a non-threatening way to learn about a health concern or perhaps learn new skills to help improve personal health and well-being. Inserting a health module into adult basic education or ESOL classes is another viable approach that is typically well...
Source: Dragonfly - Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Tags: All of Us Blog Funding Health Literacy/Consumer Health Health Observances News From NNLM PNR Public Libraries Source Type: news