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We found that medical professionals can also play an important role in fostering health
behavioural change. 45.8% of respondents who provided at least one rationale for joining the
Scheme stated that their primary or secondary reason for participating in screening services
was due to recommendations by close medical professionals (Question 8d).

Box 4.5

What is “health literacy”?

Though the definition and understanding of health literacy is constantly
evolving, the WHO maintains that it refers broadly to the ability of
individuals to “gain access to, understand and use information
in ways which promote and maintain good health” (Nutbeam &
Kickbusch, 1998). In recent years, the definition has expanded to include the
government and health system’s role in facilitating health
literacy through the provision of clear, accurate, appropriate, and
accessible information for all people (Figure 4.5) (WHO, 2021b).

Figure 4.5
Definition of “health literacy”

Your
Health
Making Accessing and
Decisions understanding
with health
Providers information
HEALTH
LITERACY IS

Taking Making
Health Health
Action Decisions
Feeling
Good About
Your
Health

In Hong Kong, there are two prominent policy documents that explicitly refer
to health literacy as a target of public health interventions. The first is
Towards 2025: Strategy and Action Plan to Prevent and Control Non-
communicable Diseases in Hong Kong, published by the Centre for Health
Promotion (CHP) in 2008 that sought to promote healthy lifestyles through
increasing health literacy, especially in relation to reducing alcohol-related
harm. Subsequently, in 2010, FHB published a report entitled Primary Care
Development in Hong Kong: Strategy Document, featuring health literacy as
a key measure to promote person-centred care and patient empowerment.
However, the lack of a populational health literacy assessment in Hong Kong
points to the need to further health literacy development, with a goal of
promoting public knowledge of and actual utilisation of primary care.

Source: Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, 2015

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