Health literacy
Health Literacy is the ability to make sound health decision in the context of every day life – at home, in the community, at the workplace, the health care system, the market place and the political arena. It is a critical empowerment strategy to increase people’s control over their health, their ability to seek out information and their ability to take responsibility.
Kickbusch, Maag, Health Literacy: towards active health citizenship 2005
Ilona Kickbusch is committed to the development of the concept of health literacy. The goal is to place health literacy as a key form of literacy in 21st century societies and as an important investment in population health. She lectures widely on the subject, has served on the advisory group of the Swiss health literacy survey > www.gesundheitskompetenz.ch.
She now serves on the advisory board for the 2009 Swiss Public Health Association Conference which will focus on Health literacy > www.public-health.ch.
NEW: (In English) Kickbusch I and Maag D Health Literacy. In: Kris Heggenhougen and Stella Quah, editors International Encyclopedia of Public Health, Vol 3. San Diego: Academic Press; 2008. pp. 204-211 > more (*.pdf)
(In German) Der aktuelle "Gesundheitsmonitor 2008" ist im November 2008 erschienen und beinhaltet auch ein Kapitel zur Gesundheitskompetenz: Ilona Kickbusch, Gerd Marstedt Gesundheitskompetenz: eine unterbelichtete Dimension sozialer Ungleichheit > mehr
Some key readings:
- NAVIGATING HEALTH - The Role of Health Literacy, Bad Gastein 2005 (*.pdf)
- Health Literacy: Towards active health citizenship. (with Daniela Maag) in: Sprenger, M. (ED) Public health in Österreich und Europa. Festschrift Horst Noack. Graz 2006. pp151-158
- Gesundheitskompetenz (*.pdf)
- Background paper for Gastein Forum Healthy Choices 2005: Enabling healthy Choices in modern health societies (*.pdf)
- Backgound paper for Gastein 2004 workshop (*.pdf)
- Report from the Gastein 2004 Workshop (*.doc)
- Health Promotion International Special Issue: Perspectives on Health Literacy (editor with Don Nutbeam and Susan Renkert) A collection of papers first published in Health promotion International Vol. 15 2000 – Vol.16 2001. Oxford University Press 2002
- Health Literacy: addressing the health and education divide. in Health Promotion International, Vol, 16.3 (2001) pg 289-297
- Literacy – Key to better health? Pfizer Forum in: The Economist , 9. September 2000