The Council of Europe has launched a new “Guide to health literacy – Contributing to trust building and equitable access to healthcare”, as a practical tool to assist decision-makers, health providers and health professionals in healthcare, disease prevention and health promotion.
The Guide promotes the health literacy needs of individuals, including migrants and refugees who often find themselves in particularly vulnerable situations, and the corresponding responsibilities of health systems. It supports the development of more accessible and inclusive health systems by suggesting ways in which decision-makers and health providers can implement health literacy at various individual, organisational, and political levels.
The Guide comprises five key components for health systems and users of health systems, namely: access to valid health information; access to appropriate care; communication between individuals, health professionals and health authorities; shared decision-making regarding treatments and care; access to digital spaces to understand and use health services. It also addresses ways to improve health literacy policy, research and practice, and refers to collaboration with health literacy communities.
The guide was developed by the Steering Committee for Human Rights in the fields of Biomedicine and Health (CDBIO) and is also an activity foreseen in the Council of Europe Action Plan on Protecting Vulnerable Persons in the Context of Migration and Asylum in Europe (2021-2025). It is freely available on the Council of Europe website. It is available in English and French and is being translated into several other languages.
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