Did you know that Health Literacy has its own month? Well, it does have its own month--Health Literacy is that important!
For the last 20 years during the month of October, health organizations throughout the United States have celebrated health literacy because they recognize its value to patient care.
What is Health Literacy?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines Health Literacy in two ways—personal Health Literacy and organizational Health Literacy.
- 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.”
If you would like more information about Health Literacy from the CDC, you might want to visit their website: https://www.cdc.gov/healthliteracy/learn/index.html
Health Literacy Workshops!
The Health Sciences Library & Informatics Center offers workshops on Health Literacy. These workshops provide tips about communicating with patients to improve their health literacy by using techniques like plain language and teach-back.
You can register for an HSLIC’s health literacy October workshop at: https://goto.unm.edu/hslicevents
