HEALTH LITERACY

Health literacy is the ability of a

patient to comprehend and correctly
use health information provided for
them by Healthcare professionals to
make informed decisions for the
betterment of their health. The World
Health Organization(WHO, 2024)
defines health literacy as
“representing the personal
knowledge and competencies that
accumulate through daily activities,
social interactions and across
generations. Personal knowledge
and competencies are mediated by
the organizational structures and
availability of resources that enable
people to access, understand,
appraise, and use information and
services in ways that promote and
maintain good health and well-being
for themselves and those around
them". It surpasses simple
understanding of public health
leaflets and following instructions on
correct use of medicines.

WHY HEALTH LITERACY MATTERS

Patient health literacy determines
their health outcomes, patients who
have excellent health tend to
understand health information given
to them and make informed decisions
about their health. People with low
health literacy skills often struggle to
understand medical instructions and
are most likely to have poor health
outcomes. Pharmacists can help
patients improve their health literacy
skills, as they are the last
professionals a patient meets during
healthcare process. This can
effectively reduce cases of drug
misuse, drug adverse effects and im
prove drug adherence.

Pharmacists can help patients aquire

good health literacy skills by teaching
them how to effectively communicate,
ask questions pertaining to their
health and also providing easy-to-
understand information by simplying
complex health information so that
paients can understand it and use it
correctly. This ensures patients are
well informed about their health and
healthcare, which may enhance
disease
management and reduce
discrepancies which may result in
increased healthcare costs and bad
health outcomes.
Health literacy boosts patients to
become health-literate; to learn about
their health, to adopt a healthier
lifestyle, and to better manage their
diseases (e.g., chronic ailments such
as diabetes mellitus, hypertension,
etc.) in order to avoid medical
[Link] concept supports
better prevention of health problems
like adverse drug effects that may be
caused by drug misuse and
management of existing health
[Link] can also result in
reduced health costs for the patient
as there would be reduced patient
hospitalization, reduced healthcare
utilisation and improved disease
management.

THE ROLE OF PHARMACISTS IN

IMPROVING PATIENT HEALTH
LITERACY

Pharmacists may educate

patients about their medications,
disease states, and potential side
effects using simple, language
(simple english or native language) to
ensure understanding.

They can create a trusting

relationship with patients so they
can openly ask questions without
judgment or embarrassment, which
enhances communication.

Provision of reliable
resources such as public health
pamphlets and visual aids pasted in
health and facilities support to guide
patients.

Pharmacists may also encourage

their patients to ask questions
regarding their health and healthcare
and also support shared decision-
making. Patients may be encouraged
to ask more questions about how
their medication works, the side
effects and also non-
pharmacological management on
their condition such as regular
exercise, physiotherapy,
psychological therapy which may
also help in their self-care.
Pharmacists can help patients make
informed decisions on their health by
helping them choose the best
decisions looking
at their medical profile, and also
considering the advantages and
disadvantages of such.

CONSEQUENCES OF POOR
HEALTH LITERACY

Poor health literacy can result in

patients misunderstanding the
medical instructions they were given
for correct medication self-
administration, missed appointments,
increased patient hospitalization,
increased healthcare expenses for
the patient, adverse drug reactions,
and higher mortality rates due to poor
disease management causing
complications that are life
[Link] consequences
usually affect vulnerable patient
groups which include the elderly,
illiterate patients, non-native
speakers, and chronic disease
patients.

SUMMARY OF AN ARTICLE;
ASESSING HEALTH LITERACY
LEVELS IN EUROPEAN
COUNTRIES(HLS-EU)
A study was conducted in eight
European countries in July-August
2011 with a 1000 people sampled in
each [Link] aim of the carrying
out the survey was to assess health
literacy levels in European nations
using a newly created questionnaire
(HLS-EU-Q47).

KEY FINDINGS

The survey was categorized into 4

health literacy levels; Inadequate
health literacy,problematic health
literacy, sufficient health literacy and
excellent health literacy. In the overall
sample, 12.4% of respondents had
inadequate health literacy, while
47.6% had restricted health literacy
(insufficient or problematic). The
proportion varied greatly by nation,
with 28.7% having low health literacy
in the Netherlands and 62.1% in
[Link] Netherlands exhibited
the highest mean health literacy
score (37.06), while Bulgaria had the
lowest (30.50). Standard deviations
indicated greater inequality in health
literacy in countries with lower
averages, i.e
Bulgaria had the highest standard
deviation(9.17).

For vulnerable Groups, the

subgroups with higher proportions of
limited health literacy included those
with poor self-assessed health. For
example, the percentage of people in
the whole sample with "very bad"
health is 78.1%, more than one long-
term illness(61%), frequent doctor
visits (58.9%), very low socio-
economic status (73.9%), lower
education (68% for lowest education
levels), and people over the age of
76 and older(60.8%).
A social gradient in health literacy
was confirmed, with financial
deprivation(r= -0.34) being the
strongest predictor of low health
literacy, followed by social
status(r=0.31), education(r=0.25),
age(r=0.16), and gender (r=0.05, with
minor effects). A multivariate
regression model explained 17.4% of
the variance in health literacy,
highlighting these social
determinants; financialdeprivation,
social status,education, age and
gender.

METHODOLOGY

The HLS-EU-Q47 was developed

through a Delphi process, which was
pre-tested and validated using a 47-
item questionnaire supplemented by
39 additional items (HLS-EU-Q86) to
assess socio-demographic and
health-related factors. Data collection
following Eurobarometer standards,
with interviews carried out through
computer-assisted personal
interviewing and paper-assisted
personal Interviewing.
DISCUSSION
The results obtained from carried out
this study indicate that low health
literacy is a substantial public health
concern in Europe, with variations
across all european countries and a
higher
incidence among vulnerable
groups(i.e older people, people with
low education levels, etc) . The social
gradient highlights the importance of
addressing health literacy in relation
to socioeconomic factors so as to
improve health equity. The findings
point to improving individual patients'
health literacy skills and simplifying
healthcare to reduce complexity.

LIMITATIONS

This study was limited to eight

European countries, with smaller
sample sizes of a 1,000 people per
country, Germany and Greece had
limited geographic representation.
Comparability may be impacted by
the use of subjective measurements
and differences in data collection
techniques (i.e Computer-Assisted
Personal Interviewing(CAPI) versus
Paper-and-Pencil Interviewing(PAPI).

CONCLUSION

The HLS-EU study provided crucial

information
on health literacy in European
countries, showing major inequalities
that requir public health interventions
to improve patient health literacy
among EU members.

REFERENCES

[Link]
sheets/detail/health-literacy

Health literacy in Europe:

comparative results of the European
health literacy survey (HLS-EU) -
PMC ([Link])