High-Level Conference on

Health Literacy and Human Rights

 

  4 December 2026
Rome, Italy
 English/French

 


 

 Context

  Health protection is a fundamental human right and a cornerstone of democracy and social justice across Europe. It is not merely a policy objective, but a shared societal responsibility requiring sustained political commitment, cross-sectoral cooperation, and innovative rights-based approaches.

 The Council of Europe has consistently placed the right to the protection of health at the centre of its mandate, supported by a strong normative framework, including the European Social Charter, the European Convention on Human Rights, and the Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine (Oviedo Convention), alongside complementary instruments such as the Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law.

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 However, the realisation of health protection depends not only on legal guarantees, but also on individuals’ ability to effectively exercise their rights in health-related contexts. This includes the capacity to access, understand, appraise, and use health information and services. Achieving this requires action at multiple levels: individual, organisational (health professionals), and systemic (health systems and institutions).

 In this context, health literacy emerges as a critical enabler. It is not merely an individual competence, but a systemic lever for improving health outcomes and strengthening societal well-being. It plays a particularly important role for persons in situations of vulnerability—including older persons, migrants, persons with disabilities, LGBTI individuals, Roma communities, and people experiencing homelessness—empowering them to act as informed rights-holders and active participants in their care.

 Conversely, limited health literacy constitutes a structural barrier that restricts access to health protection, exacerbates inequalities, including gender inequalities, reinforces stigma and discrimination, and generates avoidable costs for health systems. In this sense, low health literacy acts as a “choke point” in the realisation of human rights.

 As reaffirmed at the Council of Europe Conference on the Protection of Health (Strasbourg, 15 October 2025), strengthening health literacy is both a prerequisite for effective health protection and a key driver of democratic resilience, social cohesion, and crisis preparedness.

 Against this backdrop, the High-Level Conference will explore the role of health literacy in enabling the effective exercise of human rights, advancing public health, and reinforcing democratic stability.

 Objectives

  • Reaffirm the Council of Europe’s human rights-based approaches to health protection
  • Address key health literacy challenges, including supporting people and groups in situations of vulnerability, combating stigma and discrimination, and countering health misinformation and disinformation
  • Identify practical avenues for action to ensure that everyone can access, understand, assess and use health information and services, thereby strengthening equitable access to healthcare and improving health outcomes
  • Promote the Council of Europe Coalition on Health Literacy and Human Rights
  • Encourage signature and ratification of relevant Council of Europe conventions
     

 Thematic Pillars

  1. Health Literacy as a Human Rights Enabler
  2. Health Literacy as a Determinant of Public Health
  3. Health Literacy as a Pillar of Democratic Resilience

 Draft programme outline

Opening Session

9.00 – 10.00 | Open to press

Adoption of Rome Declaration on Health Literacy and Human Rights

Coffee break / Family Photo (10.00 – 10.30)

Keynote

10.30 – 10.50

Session 1: Health Literacy as a Pillar of Democratic Resilience and Trust

10.50 – 12.20
  • Perspectives [key stakeholders, lived experiences, unique insights…]
  • Ministerial interventions [high level speakers exchanging views in working format]

Session aims include:

  • Underscoring how health literacy enables shared decision-making between individuals, health professionals and health systems to promote public trust.  
  • Showcasing member states’ initiatives to combat health mis/dis-information, having regard to information integrity, transparent communications, and other efforts to strengthen relationships between people and institutions.  
  • Exploring efforts to strengthen health resilience and public trust through grassroots innovation (e.g. financing health infrastructure), and efforts to anticipate and prepare for crises (e.g. outbreaks, epidemics, pandemics etc)

Lunch (12.20 – 14.00)

Session 2: Health Literacy as a Determinant of Public Health

14.00 – 15.30
  • Perspectives [key stakeholders, lived experiences, unique insights…]
  • Ministerial interventions [high level speakers exchanging views in working format]

Session aims include:

  • Underscoring the importance of access to health and care services, as a commitment to equality, non-discrimination, justice, and social cohesion at all levels.
  • Promoting health literacy education, clear public communication, and targeted outreach, to increase public awareness (e.g. healthy lifestyles, prescription medication safety). 
  • Highlighting efforts to reduce stigma and disinformation, including where these are shaped by gender stereotypes or disproportionately affect groups at risk of exclusion from healthcare systems. 
  • Exploring how health literacy can support the physical and mental health of various populations and groups.

Coffee break (15.30 – 16:00)

Session 3: Health literacy to enable the exercise of health rights and equality in healthcare

16.00 – 17.30
  • Perspectives [key stakeholders, lived experiences, unique insights…]
  • Ministerial interventions [high level speakers exchanging views in working format]

Session aims include:

  • Underscoring the importance of legal commitments to health protection to support the practical and effective exercise of human rights.
  • Showcasing the leadership in member states in guaranteeing equitable access to reliable and actionable health information, thereby empowering all individuals and groups at risk of discrimination, marginalisation or exclusion to effectively claim and exercise their human rights relating to health. 
  • Examining how health literacy can help remove barriers faced by individuals and groups, ensuring that the right to health protection is effective in practice and not only guaranteed in law.

Concluding Session: From Commitment to Action

17.30 – 17.45 | Open to Press

Concluding remarks and next steps, having regard to the follow-up to the Rome Declaration on Health Literacy and Human Rights