Health Literacy Cross-Sectional National Survey in Cameroon General Population

Abstract

<i>Background: </i>Health literacy (HL) is the ability of an individual to obtain and translate knowledge and information in order to maintain and improve health in a way which is appropriate to that individual and system contexts. It has become a priority for health in the 21^st century, and many countries have included HL as a key priority in their policies and practices. However, in many African countries, such as Cameroon, information about the status of HL among population remains scarce. <i>Objective:</i> This study sought to describe the HL level of the Cameroonian population and its determinants.<i> Methods: </i>A cross-sectional national survey using the European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire short forms (HLS-EU-Q16) was conducted. Both English and French version of HLSEU16 were used due to the fact that the country is bilingual. 1,226 persons (50.5% females, ages 15-96 years, mean age 27.99 years, standard deviation 9.73) completed an online (47%) and paper (53%) questionnaire. <i>Results:</i> At least one quarter (1/4) of respondents (24.6%) showed insufficient HL and 74.3%, almost three quarter (3/4) had limited (insufficient and problematic) HL. Sufficient HL was predominant in all subcategories of the population. Subgroups within the population with low HL were those with more than two chronic diseases (<I>F</I>(3; 1,222) = 4.673, p = .003) and those living in rural areas (<I>F</I>(2; 1,223) = 21.870, p < .001). Participants with high HL evaluated their health as very good (<I>F</I>(3; 1,222) = 24.586, <i>p</i>< .001) and were satisfied with their life (<I>F</I>(3; 1,222) = 15.317, <i>p</i>< .001). <i>Discussion and conclusion:</i> Limited HL represents an important challenge for health policies and practices across Cameroon like in many European countries. The influence of socio-cultural aspect in HL must be taken into account when developing HL tools to ensure quality measurement and to improve health equity around the world.