Health Literacy for all

1. Health literacy for all-- an investigation into
consortia and partnership amongst libraries
to promote health care information in India
Maitrayee Ghosh
79th IFLA general conference and assembly, Singapore

2. Defining Health literacy
A working definition of health information literary is
"the set of abilities needed to: recognize a health
information need; identify information sources and
use them to retrieve relevant information; assess
the quality of the information and its applicability to
a specific situation; analyse, understand, and use
the information to make good health decisions" (MLA
Net, 2003)
Current research suggests public health in India may be
better improved by reducing illiteracy rather than raising
average income.(source: Social science and medicine)
79th IFLA general conference and assembly, Singapore

3. Information literacy is…
“knowing when and why
you need information,
where to find it, and how
to evaluate, use and
communicate it in an
ethical manner”.
79th IFLA general conference and assembly, Singapore

4. Consumer health information (CHI) means information on health
and medical topics provided in response to requests from the general
public, including patients and their families… information on the
symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of disease, health promotion,
preventive medicine, the determinants of health and accessing the
health care system.
‘Information Therapy’ refers to prescription-strength information,
tailor to the patient’s need. It can be clinician prescribed or system
prescribed to help the patient make better decision. ”Information
Therapy increases the patient’s ownership and helps the patient to
explore alternatives by empowering them to choose appropriate care
and set realistic goals. The doctor-patient relationship becomes more
open & partnership based and shared decision-making can be
achieved” (Malpani,2011)

5. HEALTH INFORMATICS- MULTIDISCIPLINARY IN NATURE
Statistical
analysis
Informatio
n Science
Compute
r Science
Medicine
Biology
Psycholo
gy
‘Health Grid’ is an environment that allows sharing of online
resources-- the heterogeneous & dispersed health data can be
accessed by users as per their level of authorization. Information
security and management of private data represent some of the
biggest obstacles to adoption of grid technology. CDAC, India is
working in this area & Corporate sector hospitals have managed
their operations through these state-of–the- -art tools.

6. Recommendation of National Knowledge Commission
and Health informatics projects in India
 Initiate Indian Health Information Development (I-HIND) web
based network connecting all health care establishment in
private and public sector.
 Develop national standard for clinical terminology and health
Informatics
 Create a common electronic health record
 Create appropriate policy framework to protect health data of
citizens and institutional framework for implementation.
Medical College hospital computerization
Digitization of health directories
Establishment of Health management Information System
Digital programmable hearing aid

7. Three Level Health Care system in
India
• Public Health Centres
• Village Hospitals
• Districts Health centres
Tertiary
• Nursing homes/private hospitals
• Corporate hospitals

8. Public Library System in India
State Central Libraries 28
Divisional and District 451
Sub-divisional / Taluka
Tehsil Libraries
501
Town & Rural Lib 30134
Nehru Yuvak Kendras 272
Jawahar Bal Bhavans 49
Others 128
Total 31563
The public libraries must take interest
in customizing information for
unprivileged community interested in
quality health information. Additionally
they will:
•Promote the principle of free, open
access to health information
•Support and encourage the provision
of high quality services to users .
•Act as a forum and focus for the
dissemination of research in health
information.
•Provide support and training
opportunities to local community

9. PROJECTS AND INITIATIVES TO BRIDGE HEALTH CARE DIVIDE
Health care
initiatives in
India
Reference library in Health
care-HELP
Village Resource
Centre
Health Science Library
and Information Network
National Rural Health
Mission 2005-2012
Integrated Hospital
Information System I-HIND
Tele Doc Project in
Haryana
India pilot project
PRAGATI project
Knowledge enabled
Cancer-Net Kerala
Indian Association for
Medical Informatics
(IAMI)
ICMR e-consortia
IT for health in India
(ITIH), NHIC, SHIC
HEALTHSAT, CGHS
Mother & Child Tracking
system(MCTS)

10. Projects and Initiatives by CDAC
Hospital Information System-efficient and
effective management of hospital activities
(‘E-Sushrut’)
Decision Support System(‘Ayusoft’- decision
support for Ayurveda)
Medical Informatics Standards
Health Grids
Tele Medicine (Mercury, ‘Sanjeevani’)
Digital Programable hearing aid

11. Health information dissemination and emerging roles for librarians
Public
Librarian
Health
Information
Academic
Librarian
Medical
Librarian
Patient
Information
Centre
Librarian

12. HELP Library: Health Care Information delivery in
Mumbai

14. Observation and Recommendations
In India Social conditions are the major influences of
health and illness; although there are centre of
excellence in health care delivery but inadequate to
meet health care demand. The emergence of food and
water borne diseases in addition to HIV/AIDS created
special need for people in health care Information, as
awareness could improve the dialogue between
patient and health care professional which might bring
better treatment.
There are three type of Health Literacy: Functional,
Interactive and critical. Librarians’ role in functional
and interactive health literacy may include traditional
jobs viz. selector/aggregator and less traditional jobs
are Referral, broker, advocate, IT consultant etc.

15. Health librarians have the potential to put
knowledge management into practice, exchange
expertise and collaborate with health Agencies.
Develop online health communities and AIIMS like
Institutes will be the priority for India.
Collaborative dialogue to generate deeper
collective awareness and community driven action.
Consortia among multi-type organizations can be
established viz. public libraries/information centres,
voluntary health organizations, NGO’s and
potential health information providers for
successful collaboration and to reach a very broad
public through new technologies.
Closer relationship between health librarian and
Social workers/NGOs is essential.
Wellness program for lifestyle diseases and use of
satellite based TV Channel to enhance health
literacy.

16. Concluding remarks:
‘Health Literacy’ as a major health investment and
health development strategy needs long term
commitment, strong partnerships and powerful
spokespersons. There is a growing movement within
India to establish health grid that connects medical
institutions and practitioners throughout the country.
This would allow super specialists to exchange case
studies, compare experiences, and organize virtual
conferences to discuss critical disease patterns and
provide treatment. Distance education through virtual
class room mode to fulfill patients’ information need
and provide access to digital repository of health
resources will be appropriate to overcome this crisis.

17. Thank You!