Open AccessHealth Literacy During Pandemic and Education
Author(s) -
Andreea Molnar
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
disaster medicine and public health preparedness
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.492
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1938-744X
pISSN - 1935-7893
DOI - 10.1017/dmp.2021.206
Subject(s) - pandemic , health literacy , literacy , curriculum , covid-19 , health education , political science , medicine , public health , sociology , health care , pedagogy , disease , nursing , infectious disease (medical specialty) , pathology , law
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has highlighted the importance of health literacy. This commentary discusses the consequences of poor health literacy and argues that we need to improve health literacy. Better health literacy has the potential to improve community trust, alleviate health disparities, and improve the results of the immediate response required in the early stages of a pandemic. The commentary argues that health literacy has to be addressed as part of mandatory school curriculum. Methods on how to improve and provide equitable access to education are also discussed.