Health Literacy: Professional Competence for 21 st Century Healthcare

Abstract

Health literacy consists of a set of cognitive and social skills and the ability of individuals to understand and use health information. Low levels of health literacy leads to higher rates of hospitalization, mortality, and premature death, as well as poor adherence to treatment regimens, reduced prevention and poorer health status, with a negative impact on individual and collective health. In Portugal, the most vulnerable groups (the elderly, the unemployed, low levels of education) have "problematic" or "inadequate" levels of literacy. This article therefore reflects on the importance of creating training and capacity-building programs for health teams and professionals in health literacy, concluding that the responsibility for promoting health literacy is a collective one, with health professionals playing a central role in this regard, and that it is up to health organisations to prepare work teams in health literacy and monitor their progress