ABSTRACT
The concept of health literacy surfaced in the early 1970s in the health education field. Since then, it has been applied widely in health care settings in the USA, where low levels of health literacy have been associated with poor health, lower usage of prescribed medications and preventive health services, and higher likelihood of being admitted to hospital. In a relatively short period of time, health literacy has achieved widespread political currency. In consumer-oriented societies the volume of health-related information of variable quality creates pressure for improved knowledge and skills if such material is to be critically appraised and used as a basis for decision making. Health literacy reflects the core ideas in the definitions of Nutbeam and the Institute of Medicine, thereby integrating the medical and public health domains. The expansion of the concept to include critical health literacy extends the notion to the political realm and challenges established systems of governance.
