Dear HIFA colleagues,
Extracts below and comment from me.
From Welcome to Summit: https://www.i-hlasummit.org/about
'Health literacy represents the personal competencies and organizational structures, resources and commitment which enable people to access, understand, appraise and use information and services in ways which promote and maintain good health.' – WHO, 2021
'Imagine a future where everyone is equipped with these competencies to understand their own health needs, make informed decisions about health promotion, treatments, engage in communication and interaction with health professionals, and navigate complex healthcare systems with ease. This goes hand in hand with organizations that respond to individual`s health literacy needs, that help people achieve the best health outcomes, and make sure to provide equitable health services for all. That's the power of health literacy.'
See the Summit program: https://www.i-hlasummit.org/program
COMMENT (NPW): In our recent global survey for WHO, more people agreed or strongly agreed with the statement 'More support is needed for health literacy' (97%) than any other statement (81%-86%).
The WHO definition of health literacy above is a reminder that health literacy is about much more than the ability to understand healthcare information. It is about the integrity of the global evidence ecosystem as a whole. The purpose of the global evidence ecosystem is to ensure that people can 'access, understand, appraise and use information and services in ways which promote and maintain good health'. The system remains broken because of a lack of political and financial commitment. Our HIFA survey calls for WHO to explicitly champion universal access to reliable healthcare information and to convene stakeholders to develop a global strategy. Until this happens, the system will remain broken and will undermine all efforts to improve health outcomes.
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org
