HTAi Webinar | HTA of Health Literacy interventions

The Public Health Interest Group (PH-IG) will discuss the application of HTA to “soft technologies”, such as intersectoral actions and health promotion activities, with a focus on health literacy. Health literacy refers to “the degree to which people have the ability to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others.” People with limited health literacy often have less knowledge about their health problems compared to those with adequate literacy. They experience more frequent hospitalizations, higher healthcare costs, and poorer health outcomes. Health literacy can improve health by promoting healthy behaviors such as increasing physical activity and reducing smoking rates and alcohol consumption. Health literacy interventions can also address ‘education-related health inequality,’ namely inequalities due to social determinants.

HTA has typically focused on medical products and devices (“hard technologies”), with less attention given to “soft technologies”. However, HTA can be applied to assess “intervention developed to prevent, diagnose, or treat medical conditions; promote health; provide rehabilitation; or organize the provision of health care”, thus it has the potential to also assess interventions which address health literacy. This webinar will discuss the future direction of research on this topic, drawing on findings of a literature review conducted by the PH-IG working group on health literacy, which was established earlier this year.

Date and Time

January 22, 2025 | 13:00 – 14:00 GMT

Panelists

• Chiara de Waure | Associate Professor in General and Applied Hygiene & President of the Master’s Degree Course in Nursing and Midwifery Sciences, Department of Medicine and Surgery Università degli Studi di Perugia | Italy
• Patrick James C. Encarnacion | Health Research Consultant, Alliance for Improving Health Outcomes | Philippines
• Santiago Hasdeu | Executive Coordinator of RedArets (Argentina Public Network of Health Technology Assessment), HTA Unit of Neuquén Province | Argentina