Mary Guinn Delaney, UNESCO Regional Health and HIV Education Advisor for Latin America and the Caribbean, Regional Office for Education in Santiago, Chile presented at the 2015 International Conference for Health Promoting Universities and Colleges.

1. Health literacy in the context
of development
2015 Conference on Health Promoting
Universities and Colleges
Kelowna, British Columbia
22-25 June 2015

2. Why health literacy? Why UNESCO?
• Right to (health) education for all
• Literacy, rights and development
• HIV, sexuality and health education
• Competences and lifelong learning

3. Health and Education
• Educational levels health status
• Paradigms, and measures of success, visions of
change
• New challenges: chronic diseases and healthy
lifestyles”
• A social context of abounding contradictions
• For some young(er) people: survival strategies

4. Education
• Coverage quality?
• Coverage at tertiary level
• Education in crisis! (equity, learning, teaching,
focus, quality, structure, etc)
• Importance of “soft skills” for individuals,
communities, employers, societies
• Measures of success and other expected
results

5. Health literacy
“…people’s knowledge, motivation and
competences to access, understand, appraise
and apply health information in order to make
judgements and take decisions in everyday
life concerning health care, disease prevention
and health promotion to maintain or improve
quality of life during the life course.”
Source: HLS-EU. 2012.

6. Literacy

7. Functional literacy:
More than reading, writing and math
[The ability to...] engage in all those activities for
which literacy is required for effective
functioning of his or her group and community,
and also for enabling him or her to continue to
use reading, writing and calculation for his or
her own and the community’s development.”
Source: UNESCO. 1978.

8. Approaches
to Literacy
Cognitive Skills
Tool for critical
reflection and social
change (critical,
transformative literacy)
Use of capabilities to
achieve purposes and
goals
Set of social and cultural
practices, in political,
cultural and linguistic
contexts
Applied (tasks that
require the written
word)
Lind, A. 2012. Desk Study on Current Trends of Defining and Conceptualizing Literacy. (Unpublished); UNESCO. 2005. Literacy for Life: Education for
All Global Monitoring Report 2006. Paris. McCaffery, J. et al. 2007. Developing Adult Literacy: Approaches to planning, implementing, and delivering
literacy initiatives. Oxford, Oxfam. St. Clair, R. 2010. Why Literacy Matters: Understanding the effects of literacy education for adults. Leicester,
NIACE. Cited in UNESCO/UIL. Rethinking Literacy. 2013.

9. Health literacy
Understanding
conditions that
determine
health and how
to change them Self-efficacy
Motivation
Applying
relevant health
information for
personal benefit
Personal skills
Cognitive skills
Media literacy
skills Critical thinking
skills
Problem-solving
Health literate
knowledgePersonal
knowledge and
capability
Capacity to
understand and
personalize
information
Source: Paakari, I. & Paakari, O. Health literacy as a learning outcome in schools.
Health Education, 112 (2), 133-152.

10. • Health literacy as:
– A instrument for measurement and analysis
– A framework for personal and community
empowerment
– An advocacy tool for public policy in health and
education
• Universities as settings for knowledge creation,
knowledge sharing, and extension to the broader
community
Health literacy

11. Higher Education

12. Access to higher education
Source: UNESCO Institute of Statistics. 2015.

13. OECD: Share of students not
acquiring basic skills (2015)

14. Theoretical
knowledge
Practical
knowledge
Critical
thinking
Self
awareness
Citizenship
Source: Paakari, I. & Paakari, O. (2012) Health literacy as a learning outcome in schools.
Health Education, 112 (2), 133-152.
What do we expect
from education?

15. Theoretical
knowledge
Practical
knowledge
Critical
thinking
Self
awareness
Citizenship
Source: Based on Paakari, I. & Paakari, O. (2012) Health literacy as a learning outcome in schools.
Health Education, 112 (2), 133-152.
What should we expect from
health (literacy) promoting universities?
Knowledge
generation
Meaningful
involvement with
broader
communities
Knowledge
sharing
Healthy
campuses
Fundamental
commitment to
the promotion of
health and
wellbeing for all
Passion for rights,
equity and
participation
Advocacy and
leadership
Technical
excellence

16. Thank you!