Health literacy

Health literacy is the capacity to find, interpret and use information and health services to make effective decisions for health and wellbeing.

Research has shown there is a strong relationship between a person’s health literacy and their health status.

Supporting health literacy

Health literacy is supported by a health system focus on:

  • services being easy to access and navigate
  • effective health worker communication
  • clear and relevant health messages that empower everyone to make informed choices.

Health literacy framework

We have developed A Framework for Health Literacy to support each level of the health and disability system in responding to the health literacy needs of all New Zealanders.

In this section

  • A guide to help plan and carry out a health literacy review in a health care organisation. A review can identify what your organisation is doing well and help you plan to improve your approach to service delivery. Read more
  • Research on health literacy and how to improve health literacy, including resources to use with patients. Read more
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