Expert: Health literacy investment needed

Investment in health literacy would be a useful initiative in Vietnam and other ASEAN countries to help reach health goals, according to Asian Health Literacy Association.
Expert: Health literacy investment needed ảnh 1Prof Dr Ming Che Tsai, president of the Asian Health Literacy Association, presents major trauma management methods at the event (Photo: VNA)
HCM City (VNA) -Investment in health literacy would be a useful initiative in Vietnam and otherASEAN countries to help reach health goals, according to Asian Health LiteracyAssociation.

“Enhancing health literacywill be particularly essential to provide outstanding healthcare services, tofill in the gap between the patients and healthcare providers,” Prof. Dr. PeterWu Shou Chang, the association’s general secretary said at Thu Duc DistrictHospital’s annual science and technology conference held at the weekend.

The development of adequateand satisfactory health literacy becomes more critically needed in modernsocieties, especially in societies at which people wanted to last their lives longwithout significant burdens of diseases, Chang said.

“Health literacy serves toempower individuals, patients, their families and communities on all healthissues, including reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health, infectiousdiseases and non-communicable diseases, mental health, road safety andpreventing unintentional poisoning and injuries,” he added.

It also helps to strengthenthe health systems and health care services in countries, he said.

Health literacy helpsindividuals keep healthy behaviours; maintain and promote health status; reducelatency of fully-developed disorders; minimize the side-effects and burdens ofpost-acute illnesses; facilitate early rehabilitation and comprehensiverecovery from diseases.

It is developed throughfamilies, early education and informal life-long learning, shaped by continuousexposure of individuals with health information and healthcare organisations.

Eventually, the status ofhealth literacy in individuals can protect and ensure they understand when,where, and how to communicate with healthcare providers, and to developproductive communication with healthcare providers, and support the individualsand families as well as the society to become a good manager of health, headded.

Waiting for two hours ormore at hospitals for health examinations and treatment is unavoidable andcommon at many hospitals, especially overcrowded ones, Chang said, andsuggested that hospital managers should think about how to provide health educationto patients while they wait.

He advised that there aremany different ways to provide education. For instance, exciting videos toguide disease prevention or common knowledge about health problems should beshown on televisions in waiting areas.

One study on healthliteracy and its impact on the quality of healthcare services among patientswith type 2 diabetes at Thu Duc District Hospital showed that empoweringpatients via improvement of health literacy enables health-friendlyenvironments, better self-care with fewer health risks, and lower healthcarecosts.

The conference also heardabout many scientific research reports in the fields of administration,surgeries, obstetrics, nutrition, public health, anaesthetic and recovery.-VNa
VNA

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