The idea of health literacy is a relatively new term in contemporary health promotion, especially in Poland, where it has only recently started to be used. It was created as a result of the need to name a certain set of conditions and competences that could realistically determine the health of individuals and populations. This applies to both healthy people, including those at high risk of disease (the use of health literacy in prevention), as well as sick people (the use of health literacy in the course of disease), including people suffering from oncological diseases
