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Health Literacy During Pandemic and Education

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 June 2021

Andreea Molnar*
Affiliation:
Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia
*
Corresponding author: Andreea Molnar, Email: amolnar@swin.edu.au.

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has highlighted the importance of health literacy. This commentary discusses the consequences of poor health literacy and argues that we need to improve health literacy. Better health literacy has the potential to improve community trust, alleviate health disparities, and improve the results of the immediate response required in the early stages of a pandemic. The commentary argues that health literacy has to be addressed as part of mandatory school curriculum. Methods on how to improve and provide equitable access to education are also discussed.

Type
Concepts in Disaster Medicine
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc

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