H E A L T H I N C L U S I V I T Y I N D E X

Spotlight on health literacy

The extensive value of health literacy for individuals and nations cannot be ignored. Discover why tackling low health literacy requires a coordinated approach, and explore the key actions that drive improvement

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.

Personal health literacy

Empowering people with the skills, resources and confidence to navigate health services and make informed decisions about health.

Professional health literacy

Building the knowledge, attitudes and communication practices of staff so they understand the needs of different groups.

Organisational health literacy

Ensuring health institutions and systems make it easy for everyone to access and use health information and services.

A 25% reduction in the share of people reporting low health literacy could save US$303bn in annual healthcare costs for the 40 countries studied by the Health Inclusivity Index

Explore the five key health literacy priorities

Expert panel members

Our health literacy spotlight has been developed with the support of many experts in the field, spanning leading institutions around the world.

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Dr Guda Alemayehu

Lead, African Health Literacy Network, Ethiopia

Prof Virginia Visconde Brasil

Professor of nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Federal University of Goias, Brazil; lead, Brazilian Health Literacy Network

Dr Shyam Sundar Budhathoki

Senior teaching fellow in global health, Imperial College London, United Kingdom

Prof Lorie Donelle

Professor of nursing, College of Nursing at the University of South Carolina, United States

Prof Diane Levin-Zamir

Professor of public health, School of Public Health, University of Haifa; Research Co-Chair of the WHO Action Network on Measuring Population and Organizational Health Literacy (M-POHL), Israel

Prof Donald Nutbeam

Professor of public health, University of Sydney, Australia; Chair of the WHO Ad-hoc Advisory Group on Health Literacy

Prof Orkan Okan

Professor of health literacy, School of Medicine and Health, Technical University of Munich; president, International Health Literacy Association; head, WHO Collaborating Center for Health Literacy, Germany

Dr Catina O'Leary

President and CEO at Health Literacy Media, United States

Prof Enny Rachmani

Vice president, Asian Health Literacy Association; associate professor of public health informatics and health literacy, Faculty of Health Science, Universitas Dian Nuswantoro, Semarang, Indonesia

Geoffrey So

Head of strategic engagement, WHO Foundation, Switzerland

Kristine Sørensen

Founder, Global Health Literacy Academy; honorary professor, Aalborg University; executive chair, Health Literacy Europe, Denmark

Prof Lilliana Villa Vélez

Associate professor, Faculty of Medicine, University of Antiquia, Colombia

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Expert consensus statement

Learn more about the impacts of health literacy and the key priorities for improving it with a short consensus statement compiled by our expert panel members.

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