Public Health Education

What is Health Literacy?

There are 2 types of health literacy as defined by Healthy People 2030

• Personal health literacy is the degree to which individuals have the ability to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others.
• Organizational health literacy is the degree to which organizations equitably enable individuals to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others.

Health literacy is a central focus of Healthy People 2030 with an overarching goal to “Eliminate health disparities, achieve health equity, and attain health literacy to improve the health and well-being of all.”

You can use the tools and resources listed below to promote health literacy.