NECON Population Health Literacy Project

The success of any health systems reform or improvement will depend on the capacity of individuals, families and communities to make informed decisions about their health: in sum, their health literacy.

NECON has embarked on a 3-year project that will define health literacy from the population health perspective and will develop and implement policies that increase health literacy among policy-makers, advocates, opinion-leaders and the general public in New England—nearly 14.5 million people. The project will provide on-going feedback to policy and program development and will measure the impact of this project on health literacy and health policy decisions.

The initial phase of the project will continue developing a consensus across New England on the definition and the components of population health literacy and continue collecting baseline data on the level of population health literacy.(see ref.#1: Primary (Pre-Disease) Prevention Health Promotion Trend Indicators; Population Health Literacy) The second phase will actively promote population health literacy and facilitate development of policies and programs that address the real determinants of health. (see ref.#2: Prevention Paradigm) The third phase will assess the change in levels of population health literacy and its impact on health policy.

NECON proposes to focus the public interest and concern on health literacy as a contributor to improving health outcomes and preventing disparities in health. The Erna Yaffe Foundation and NECON will donate our energies to assure success and involvement of key players throughout New England. ( see ref. #3: NECON Implementations Advisory Group).

References

1. Primary (Pre-Disease) Prevention Health Promotion Trend Indicators
   
   Population Health Literacy: A NECON Proposal
    
2. Prevention Paradigm
   (taken from NECON Regional Conference Proceedings, December 16, 2008)
    
3. NECON Implementations Advisory Group.