Consensus paper ‘Shaping a health literate Europe’

A new consensus paper on how to advance health literacy in Europe was launched on 4 October at theEuropean Health Forum in Gastein, developed by a broad policy coalition composed of the Standing Committee of European Doctors (CPME), the European Patients Forum and Maastricht University. According to the paper, health literacy can be understood as "people's knowledge, motivation, and competencies to access, understand, appraise, and apply health information in order to make judgments and take decisions in everyday life concerning healthcare, disease prevention and health promotion to maintain or improve quality of life during the course". The paper shows that 47% of the population in eight European countries are estimated to have insufficient levels of health literacy. Patients are increasingly expected to take a more proactive role in managing their health and need support to do so. To make such genuinely informed decisions about their health and treatment, patients need accessible, reliable and understandable health-related information at European level. 

Health literacy has also a critical relevance for health inequalities as health literate people are more discerning about their health, make more informed choices and decisions, are more likely to seek earlier diagnosis and recover faster. At the same time, high or low health literacy levels also have an impact on the efficiency of healthcare systems, said participants at the Gastein health forum. 

For more information: kaisa.immonen.charalambous(at)eu-patient.eu