Track 2 by WHO - Jinli

Track 2: Health literacy and health behaviour
7th Global Conference on Health Promotion

Health Literacy
- has been defined as the cognitive and social skills (eg. ability to read pamphlets and make appointments) which determine the motivation and ability of individuals to gain access to, understand and use information in ways which promote and maintain good health.
- goes beyond a narrow concept of
1.health education and individual behaviour-oriented communication
2.addresses the environmental,political and social factors that determine health.
3. promotes empowerment, which in turn is vital for achieving the internationally agreed health and development goals as well as the emerging threats such as from the pandemic influenza, climate change and non-communicable diseases.

Health education
- aims to influence individual lifestyle decisions
- raises awareness of the determinants of health
- encourages individual and collective actions which may lead to a modification of these determinants.
-Health education is achieved through methods that go beyond information diffusion and entail interaction, participation and critical analysis.
-Such health education leads to health literacy, leading to personal and social benefit, such as by enabling effective community action and contributing to the development of social capital.

Track 2 will closely examine the issues involved in
1. achieving health literacy in this comprehensive sense, and identify strategic actions needed to lead the way forward.
2. the role of other sectors in contributing to health literacy, and consider advocacy with and strategic alliances with the education sector - and at all levels, international, national and local - to achieve this.
3. explore the latest developments in participatory approaches to determine how people can develop the skills, knowledge and efficacy to act on that knowledge in order to maintain good health. It will reveal how such actions are needed in developed as well low- and middle-income countries.