Spotlight on health literacy

Health literacy is a person’s ability to find, understand, critically appraise and use health information and services

A high level of health literacy improves health outcomes and reduces health system costs, yet the task of improving health literacy cannot be left to individuals alone. Health information and services are extensive and complex, and a person’s ability to navigate them can be affected by diverse factors, including misinformation.

Productive health literacy improvements happen when governments and health systems take greater responsibility, and work towards a shared, system‑wide approach that operates across three interlinked levels.