The roots of health literacy can be traced back to the national literacy movement in India under Gandhi and to aid groups working in Africa to promote education and health. The term health literacy was first used in 1974 and described as "health education meeting minimal standards for all school grade levels". From that first use the definition of health literacy evolved during the next 30 years with official definitions promulgated by government agencies and large programs. Despite differences among these definitions, they all hold in common the idea that health literacy involves the need for people to understand information that helps them maintain good health.

Although the United States produces a majority of the research on health literacy, Europe has strong multinational programs as well as research efforts, and health literacy experts in developing countries have created successful programs implemented on a community level. Given these distinct strengths of efforts worldwide, there are many opportunities for collaboration. International collaboration can harness the United States' research power, Europe's multilingual and multinational experience, and developing nations' community-based programs to create robust programs and research that reach people—not based on language or nationality but on need and value.

A workshop on international health literacy efforts that feature presentations and discussion about health literacy interventions from various countries as well as other topics related to international health literacy was held as the basis for this report. Health Literacy: Improving Health, Health Systems, and Health Policy Around the World summarizes the findings and discussions at the workshop.

Contents

• THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
• PLANNING COMMITTEE ON HEALTH LITERACY: IMPROVING HEALTH, HEALTH SYSTEMS, AND HEALTH POLICY AROUND THE WORLD
• ROUNDTABLE ON HEALTH LITERACY
• Reviewers
• Acknowledgments
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Welcome
  • THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF MEDICINE
  • UNITED NATIONS
  • REFERENCE
• 3. Health Literacy Perspectives
  • HEALTH LITERACY WORK OF THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION
  • POLICIES AND PROGRAMS PROMOTING HEALTH LITERACY GLOBALLY
  • UNITED STATES: HEALTH LITERACY AND RECENT FEDERAL INITIATIVES
  • FROM POLICY TO IMPLEMENTATION
  • DISCUSSION
  • REFERENCES
• 4. Health Literacy Policy and Programs
  • HEALTH LITERACY IN CANADA
  • HEALTH LITERACY AS PART OF A NATIONAL APPROACH TO SAFETY AND QUALITY OF LIFE
  • HEALTH LITERACY IN ITALY'S EMILIA ROMAGNA REGION
  • HEALTH LITERACY IN IRELAND
  • DISCUSSION
  • REFERENCES
• 5. Innovations in Health Literacy
  • HEALTH LITERACY IN ISRAEL: POLICY, ACTION, RESEARCH, AND BEYOND
  • THE EUROPEAN HEALTH LITERACY SURVEY
  • HEALTH LITERACY COMMUNICATION(S)
  • INNOVATIONS FROM A CORPORATE PERSPECTIVE
  • DISCUSSION
  • REFERENCES
• 6. Concluding Panel
  • WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE
  • A PUBLIC HEALTH PERSPECTIVE FOR HEALTH LITERACY
  • THE EVOLVING CONCEPT OF HEALTH LITERACY
  • DISCUSSION
  • REFERENCE
• APPENDIXES
  • Appendix A Health Literacy Around the World: Part 1 Health Literacy Efforts Outside of the United States
  • Appendix B Speaker Biosketches

Rapporteur: Lyla M. Hernandez.

This study was supported by contracts between the National Academy of Sciences and Aetna; the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (HHSP233200900537P); the American College of Physicians Foundation; America's Health Insurance Plans; the Health Resources and Services Administration (HHSH25034004T); the East Bay Community Foundation (Kaiser Permanente); GlaxoSmithKline; Humana; Johnson & Johnson; Merck and Co., Inc.; the Missouri Foundation for Health (09-0290-HL-09); Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion; and United Healthcare. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the organizations or agencies that provided support for this project.

Suggested citation:

IOM (Institute of Medicine). 2013. Health literacy: Improving health, health systems, and health policy around the world: Workshop summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.