Health literacy and the Millennium Development Goals: United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) regional meeting background paper (abstracted).

This paper uses a health literacy "lens" to look at key global health challenges, including the achievement of health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the reduction of disease burden due to non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Available global evidence is summarized related to: assessment of the impact of health literacy on health and development; identification of measures for reporting progress; exploring ways to strengthen multisectoral collaboration at the national, regional, and international levels to undertake joint actions for increasing health literacy; finding ways to promote better access and use of information through information and communication technology and empowerment; and building capacity for sustained action to increase health literacy. Key action messages are identified. Findings presented informed the 2009 ECOSOC Ministerial Declaration on Health Literacy.