Health literacy: a forgotten element of health promotion

Abstract

Health promotion is the essence of public health; it is supported by various strategies for its implementation, one of them is health literacy, which emerged in 1974, and it is considered, according to the World Health Organization, as “the social and cognitive skills that determine a person's level of motivation and ability to access, understand, and use information in a way that allows them to promote and maintain good health”. Low levels of health literacy translate into inadequate use of health services, increased expenses, and disempowerment of the population