Peter Chang, president of the Asian Health Literacy Association, speaks about global health literacy plans and governmental action at a conference on Monday in HCM City. (Source: VNA)
HCM City (VNS/VNA) – Health literacy can contribute to reducing
disparities among different groups of people in accessing universal healthcare
services, Professor Dianne Levin-Zamir from Israel’s University of Haifa said at
an held in Ho Chi Minh City on November 11.
In many countries, communication with patients and the public is increasingly
becoming digital.
“This trend has great advantages, among them bringing health information and
navigation directly into homes, allowing for personal data to be stored and
then accessed for the benefit of the patient as well as increased efficiency. And
it creates big data for analysis and and more,” she
said.
According to the World Health Organisation, reflects a certain
level of knowledge, personal skills and confidence that allows individuals to
take action and change their lifestyles and living conditions.
Digitalisation, however, requires the ability to seek, find, understand, and
appraise health information from electronic sources and apply the knowledge to
addressing or solving a health problem, she added.
Until recently, the phrase ”digital divide” has been used to highlight the
disparities that exist among the public regarding the use of mobile phones and
the skills needed to manage health and healthcare in a digital world in which
large groups are assumed to have been left behind, she noted.
An asset-based approach to understanding digital health literacy views digital
tools as a means of empowerment for the patient and the public, she said.
Professor Kristine Sørensen from Global Health Literacy Academy in Denmark said
that health literacy refers to how people access, understand, appraise and
apply information technology to form judgments and make decisions regarding
healthcare, disease prevention and health promotion.
Cancer literacy, for instance, is critically important for cancer patients who
must make a complex set of diagnostic and treatment-based decisions at times of
physical and emotional distress, she said.
Yet, it is unclear to what extent cancer literacy is reflected in cancer
strategies such as the national cancer control plans, according to Sørensen.
Professor Paras K Pokharel of the School
of Public Health & Community Medicine at the B P Koirala Institute of
Health Sciences in Nepal, said: “With the changing dynamics of the public
health problems that we face, these challenges demand coordinated actions.”
The UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs) are interconnected and must be
shared between every sector in society, he said.
As countries strive for universal health coverage, it is equally important to
focus on social determinants of health, health policies and health literacy,
Pokharel said.
“While we continue to discuss health policies and social determinants, there is
a lack of discussion at the national level on the challenges of a health
literacy approach to implement universal health care, about using health
literacy to solve problems, and about the appropriate tools and strategies of
health literacy, as well as the pertinent issues in which a health literacy
approach can make an impact,” he said.
In such a backdrop, discussion is needed on how countries can remove barriers
to health literacy and eventually leap forward to attain universal health
coverage, he added.
A health-literate health-care organisation includes leadership engagement,
workforce preparation, a shame-free environment, plain language writing and
design principles, clear oral communications and checks on understanding involving
the populations served, and the need for health literacy in high risk
situations, according to experts at the conference.
The conference was held by Thu Duc District Hospital in cooperation with the
Asian Health Literacy Association./.
Source: VietnamPlus
