Missouri Health Literacy Enhancement Program

Health literacy is defined as "the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions" (Healthy People 2010). Health literacy encompasses the skills of reading, writing, mathematics, listening, and speaking, and relies on cultural and conceptual knowledge.

People with limited health literacy have less knowledge of disease management, report poorer health status, and are less likely to seek preventative services. This problem is pervasive - affecting approximately half of the people living in the United States. Poor health literacy costs the nation as much as $58 billion each year.

To address these issues, MFH has developed the Missouri Health Literacy Enhancement effort. MFH and health literacy stakeholders are focusing on three goals in this effort:

• improve the health literacy of Missouri's population in order to encourage better health decisions and healthy behaviors;
• promote health literacy education and training for health professionals; and,
• enhance communication between consumers and care providers.

A recent development in this effort is the Health Literacy Coordinating Council, chaired by Dr. Arthur Culbert. The Council includes representatives from around the state, as well as MFH staff. To understand more about the Council, please click here (PDF) or click on the Letter from the Chair below.

Mission, Vision & Guiding Principles: In order to improve the health of all Missourians, the Council has adopted the following mission, vision and guiding principles.

Mission:
-Providing access to plain language health care information;
-Offering educational resources that help providers communicate effectively with patients;
-Improving health literacy through education and community collaborations; and
-Strengthening the evidence base for health literacy.

Vision: to become a national leader in health literacy

Guilding Principles: Engage community partners, innovate strategically and put consumers first.

Funding: No application/funding schedule has been developed yet for this effort. Closed Requests for Applications can be viewed on the RFA Archive page.

More Information: For more information about the Missouri Health Literacy Enhancement program, please contact Thomas Adams, Program Officer, at 314.345.5534 (toll-free: 800.655.5560) or tadams@mffh.org.

Health Literacy Coordinating Council - Letter from the Chair - April 3, 2007 (PDF)

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