Health Literacy: skills to deal with health information can help build new paths in public health

Abstract

A new transdisciplinary concept in the Brazilian academic scenario, Health Literacy has been attracting increasing interest from researchers from different areas. Based on her experience as coordinator of the study and research group Promotion in Communication, Education and Literacy for Health in Brazil (ProLiSaBr), linked to the Federal University of Triângulo Mineiro (UFTM), professor and researcher Rosane Aparecida de Sousa highlights the importance of this theme to the promotion of health in the population. In an interview given to Reciis, she clarifies that the development of skills to seek, access, understand and evaluate health information, applying it to improve the quality of life, can also be a way to exercise citizenship. “As the population reaches a higher level of Health Literacy, it also has higher capacity and interest in social participation, it recognizes itself as a subject of law”. Whether as a resource to combat misinformation or as a work tool for health professionals, Health Literacy emerges as an option for building new paths in Brazilian public health, she highlights. Rosane Aparecida de Sousa has a post-doctoral degree in Social Work from the National School of Public Health at Universidade Nova de Lisboa, is a contributor to the UFTM’s Integrated and Multiprofessional Residency Program in Health and acted as associate editor of Reciis from September 2017 to December 2018.