Health Literacy

This logo, definition and tagline were co-produced by service users in the Northern Health and Social Care Trust and have been endorsed by The Health and Social Care (HSC) Regional Health Literacy Forum. The Forum has representation from five trusts (Belfast, Northern, Southern, South Eastern, Western),  Public Health Agency (PHA), Health and Social Care Board (HSCB), the Department of Health and the commmunity and voluntary sector including Belfast Healthy Cities and CDHN.   

The logo has two parts representing individuals and communities (person) and health care providers and policy (health cross).  To have good health literacy for all, individual's and communities’ knowledge, skills, understanding and confidence need to be improved - alongside this, health and social care professionals and policy makers need to provide accessible, appropriate and relevant user information, support and services.  

Why is health literacy important? 

Research has shown that low health literacy is associated with worse health outcomes including poor health knowledge and understanding of illnesses,  riskier health choices, more hospitalisations, greater use of emergency care, lower uptake of screening and preventative services, reduced ability to take medication appropriately and difficulty in interpreting labels and health messages.

Improving health literacy is vital to counteract many of the negative impacts of low health literacy and can result in improved health outcomes for the individual, better patient and professional relationships, more appropriate use of health and social care services and reduced health inequalities.

Across Europe, it is estimated over 50% of people have low levels of health literacy. Research commissioned by Public Health England found that 61% of the working age population found it difficult to understand health and wellbeing information. In Northern Ireland, it is estimated that 17.4% of working age adults lack functional literacy skills and 24.1% lack basic numeracy skills. (Survey of Adult Skills, PIACC 2012)

The regional Making Life Better Framework includes a commitment under Theme 3 to 'empower people to make healthier choices and informed decisions about their health by improving health literacy'.  Health literacy is also highlighted by a number of Councils under community planning and, as a social determinant of health, is a means of addressing health inequalities in line with prevention commitments under Health and Wellbeing 2026: Delivering Together.