How Health Equity Relies on Health Literacy
The language of healthcare can be hard to understand. For those with basic or marginal health literacy, it can even be a hazard.
At last month’s annual meeting of the National Coalition of STD Directors (NCSD), Leigh Curtin-Wilding, director of the BU MET Health Communication program, shared insights on the evolution of health communication and today’s pandemic-exacerbated need for improved health literacy.
“When health information is clear and addresses people where they are, it supports goals for greater health equity,” Curtin-Wilding, who teaches health communicators clarity and concision in Writing for Health (MET HC 561), said to the more than 650 in attendance at the virtual event. “When we don’t understand information, or when messaging is muddled—and we’ve seen many examples of this during the pandemic—emotions are our fallback.”
Sharing the panel was Dr. Grace “Chela” Hall, health scientist of the Centers for Disease Control’s HIV Prevention Development Branch. Dr. Hall shared reflections on building trust through respectful listening and lent perspective on understanding preferences people have for the nouns, pronouns, and language used to describe them.
The panel discussion was moderated by Kathleen Jeanty. The senior communications director for NCSD, a national organization that partners with private sector, government, and community public health members, Ms. Jeanty is currently a candidate in the BU MET Master of Science in Health Communication program.