Health literacy around the world - please distribute

My source: HIFA2015

Hello!

At the request of the U.S. Institute of Medicine Roundtable of Health Literacy, I am preparing a background paper on health literacy activities around the world. To support that effort, I have created an online survey tool to gather information on how health literacy is being put into policy and practice in national, state, and local governments, the European Union, the United Nations, the business community, non-governmental and non-profit organizations, and within the education sector.

Our goal is to learn what is going on in the field of health literacy in as many nations as possible [*see note below] - and your assistance in both responding to the survey and sharing the survey with your colleagues is critically important. Please respond to the survey and please forward this survey link and request for participation to your peers and colleagues working in the field around the world.

You can find the survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/global_health_literacy_listserv

A report will be made available based on the outcomes of this effort.

Please let me know if you have any questions about this project or encounter any problems with the web site.

If you have previously received this invitation, you do not need to respond to the survey again if you already have done so. If you have not already done so - please do!

Thank you!
Andrew Pleasant
Andrew Pleasant, Ph.D.
Health Literacy and Research Director
Canyon Ranch Institute
8600 E. Rockcliff Road
Tucson, AZ 85750
Phone 520.239.8561, Ext. 4147
Fax 520.239.8542
andrew AT canyonranchinstitute.org

Canyon Ranch Institute is a 501(c)3 non-profit public charity.
For information, please visit canyonranchinstitute.org

HIFA2015 profile: Andrew Pleasant is Director of Health Literacy and Research at Canyon Ranch Institute, United States. Professional interests: Health literacy, Prevention of disease, Integrative medicine, Health system reform. andrew AT canyonranchinstitute.org

[*Note from HIFA2015 moderator:

At the end of the survey is the following question:

'Please tell us what you think would be the best next steps for the field of health literacy. What could other health literacy researchers, practitioners, and academics located around the world do that would help you to make a greater impact and further advance health literacy in your work?'

I would like to invite comments on this question for discussion here on the HIFA2015 forum: hifa2015 AT dgroups.org

Health literacy is a critical issue to achieve the HIFA2015 goal - to ensure that lack of availability and use of basic healthcare knowledge is no longer a major contributing factor to needless death and suffering. What more can be done to improve health literacy in low and middle income countries? And what more can be done to ensure that healthcare information is presented in ways that are appropriate to those with low health literacy?

Thanks, Neil PW]