View the recording

Presenters:
Kinte Ibbott, Vice President, Health Communications, Maximus
Joan Winchester, Director, Center for Health Literacy, Maximus

Health literacy includes people's knowledge and competences to obtain, process, and apply health information and services to make appropriate decisions regarding healthcare, disease prevention, and health promotion to maintain or improve quality of life. Many with low health literacy skills have challenges with reading, writing, communication and use of technology. The emergence of COVID-19 has demonstrated the need for improved health literacy across people and throughout the healthcare system in order to fight this pandemic. As we observe Health Literacy Month in October, we will discuss the importance of health literacy in healthcare, and the vital role that health literacy plays in saving lives during a global health emergency.