Health literacy policies and activities: developments in the past five years

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Abstract Background In the past five years, two inventory studies have been performed in which health literacy policies throughout Europe were described and analyzed: the ‘Study on sound evidence for a better understanding of health literacy in the European Union’(HEALIT4EU, 2015) and the recent HEN-synthesis report on the evidence on existing policies and linked activities and their effectiveness for improving health literacy (2018). In this presentation, data from these two studies will be compared to identify current developments regarding health literacy policy. Methods The descriptive data of both studies were, amongst others, compared with respect to the number of countries with policies or activities regarding health literacy, the geographical distribution over Europe, the content of the policies and level of implementation. Results More countries have developed policies and activities in the domain of health literacy, or are currently in the process of doing so. However, gaps remain in the geographical distribution of policy, and evidence on the effectiveness of policies and activities is still marginal. Conclusions Health literacy is more prominent on the European policy agenda. Rigorous evaluation is needed to demonstrate possible benefits of the policies for individuals, communities and society as a whole.