An Introduction to Health Literacy in Health

The inclusion of the word health in the term health literacy may imply that this asset should be the responsibility of the health sector. However, health is experienced everywhere in our lives, not just in the hospital, when visiting the doctor or local pharmacist. In addition, children and adolescents may have fewer healthcare encounters in a health setting; therefore, if health prevention, health education, health promotion, and health literacy development are the goal, we may need to provide these opportunities in settings where adolescents and children are more frequently found. The chapters in this section explore the idea of health literacy being “health driven and education delivered” and identify the important role of a “Health in All Policies” approach to health literacy. There is a strong call to action for greater cross-sectoral effort, codesign, recognition of the social ecological model of health literacy, national health literacy policies, child and adolescent specific health literacy policies, as well as child and adolescent involvement in policy development. This chapter introduces the four chapters within the health section of this book and summarizes the key points made by these chapters.