Castro Sanchez, E

Chang, PW

Escobedo, AA

Holmes, AH

Vila-Candel, R

OBJECTIVES: Multifactorial interventions are crucial to arrest the threat posed by infectious diseases. Public involvement requires adequate information, but determinants such as health literacy can impact on the effective use of such knowledge. The influence of health literacy on infectious diseases is examined in this paper. METHODS: Databases were searched from January 1999 through July 2015 seeking studies reporting on health literacy and infections such tuberculosis, malaria or influenza, or infection-related behaviours such as vaccination or hand hygiene. HIV was excluded as comprehensive reviews had already been published. RESULTS: Studies were found on antibiotic knowledge and use, adoption of influenza and MMR immunisations, screening for sexually transmitted and viral hepatitis infections. There was a lack of investigations on areas such as tuberculosis, malaria, hand hygiene or diarrhoeal diseases. CONCLUSIONS: Limited or insufficient health literacy was associated with reduced adoption of protective behaviours such as immunisation, or inadequate understanding of antibiotics, although the relation was not consistent. Large gaps remain related to infectious diseases with high clinical and societal impact such as tuberculosis or malaria

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Health literacy and infectious diseases: why does it matter?

http://spiral.imperial.ac.uk/bitstream/10044/1/28828/9/Castro-Sanchez_Health_literacy_infectious_Int-Jnl-Infect-Dis.pdf

Health literacy and infectious diseases: why does it matter?

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