Health Literacy: Improving Health Information and Services in Vulnerable Communities

GIH Disparities Audioconference Series

When:

Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 2:00 pm Eastern/1:00 pm Central/Noon Mountain/11 am Pacific

Who:

• Cynthia Baur, Senior Advisor, Health Literacy, Office of the Associate Director for Communication, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Thomas Adams, Program Officer, Missouri Foundation for Health

What:

Today, nearly nine out of ten adults have difficulty obtaining, processing, and understanding basic health information that is available to them in their communities. While lack of health literacy affects people all social and economic classes, it has been shown to inordinately impact individuals from lower socioeconomic classes and minority groups.

In an effort to build upon current initiatives to improve health literacy throughout the country, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released the National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy in 2010. The plan, which seeks to engage a wide range of actors, lays out seven goals, with corresponding strategies, that aim to improve health literacy.

This webinar discussed how federal efforts through the National Action Plan are shaping health literacy work on the local, state and national level. Participants also discussed the important role that grantmakers can play in implementing the goals of the Plan, including opportunities to do so. Additionally, the webinar examined strategies that funders are employing to address health literacy in the communities they serve.

Related Content

• Cynthia Baur Presentation – Microsoft PowerPoint presentation, 4636 KB
• Thomas Adams Presentation – Microsoft PowerPoint presentation, 103 KB