What is Health Literacy?
Unlike functional literacy, the ability to read and write, health literacy is the ability of individuals to obtain, interpret and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions. Limited understanding of health information is a challenge for people from all ages, races, cultures, income and educational levels. However, older people, non-whites, immigrants, and those with low incomes and/or inadequate literacy are disproportionately more likely to have limited health literacy. Half of adult Americans struggle with understanding common health information, such as prescription drug instructions, test results, insurance forms and chronic disease self-management skills. This has resulted in a knowledge and behavior gap between the medical and public health innovations and the delivery of day-to-day information and services the public needs to lead longer and healthier lives.