Health Promotion Forum

Reducing health inequity and promoting well-being across the NCD agenda: Health literacy development for the prevention and control of NCDs 

Moderator: Dr Guy Fones, Head, Global Coordination Mechanism on NCDs, WHO

Speakers

• Opening remarks: Dr Svetlana Akselrod, Director of the Global NCD Platform, WHO; Dr Bente Mikkelson, Director, NCD Department, WHO; Dr Ruediger Krech, Director, Health Promotion Department, WHO and Professor Pascale Quester, Vice Chancellor, Swinburne University of Technology.
• How health literacy impacts on well-being: Dr Faten Ben Abdelaziz, Health Promotion, WHO
• Benefits of a globally relevant approach to Health Literacy: Prof Oxana Drapkina, MOH, Russian Federation and Prof Richard Osborne, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia
• Engaging and serving communities with a Health Literacy Development approach: Dr Stephane Besançon, ONG Santé Diabète, Mali and Prof Sonia Dias, University of Lisbon, Portugal.
• Meaningful impact on people, organisations, communities, and policy [Facilitated discussion]:
• Janis Morrissey, Director of Health Promotion, Information & Training, Irish Heart Foundation
• Prof Wagida Anwar, Ain Shams University, Egypt
• Catherine Lourey, Mental Health Commissioner, Mental Health Commissioner of NSW, Australia

Organised by WHO GCM/NCD (HQ/DDG/GNP/GCM) and Swinburne University of Technology

In this Session we introduce and launch the WHO Health literacy Development for the prevention and control of NCDs report. This WHO Global Public Health Good sets out how to apply health literacy to progress towards SDG targets and goals. Systematic, country-wide, yet locally relevant health literacy development, is required to boost progress toward health and equity and to ensure Member States’ actions on NCDs and their risk factors is effective for all communities and reaches all peoples without distinction, including groups often left behind. Through its report, the WHO Member State-led Global Experts Working Group on Health Education and Health Literacy for NCDs provides practical solutions to accelerate progress on NCD targets through four integrated volumes:

01 Overview; 
02 Health Literacy: A globally relevant perspective; 
03 Practical actions for health literacy development and responsiveness; 
04 WHO National Health Literacy Demonstration Projects (NHLDPs) case studies.

This session showcases how WHO has invested in the development of health literacy since the commitments contained in the Shanghai Declaration, emanating from the previous Global Conference on Health Promotion.