The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) provides a definition of health literacy and a quick summary of its impact.
Fact Sheets on Health Literacy by the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS), a national non-profit organization devoted to improving the quality of health services for people served by publicly financed care. Published October 2013. CHCS is based in Hamilton, New Jersey. According to the Affordable Care Act, health literacy is defined as “the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions.”
Health Literacy, results from the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy, by the National Center for Education Statistics (US Dept. of Education). Only 12% of adults were found to have Proficient (highest) level of health literacy, and more than 1/3 were at Basic or Below Basic levels. Report only; no recommendations. Released Sept. 2006. No updates yet.
Health Literacy Online contains resources to learn more about health literacy, including strategies to improve the usability of online information
MedlinePlus (part of US National Library of Medicine) provides health information for various topics in multiple languages such as Arabic, Dari, Farsi, Hmong, Japanese, Pashto, Somali, Vietnamese, as well as European languages; nearly 60 languages in all. The multilingual collection does not include all topics.
Federal government helps you get tips on physical activity fitness, diet and better nutrition, and how to improve communication on health subjects (health literacy). Site developed by Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, part of HHS.