Abstract

Health literacy is a valuable tool in the prevention of poor health choices leading to adverse health outcome among vulnerable populations. The COVID-19 crisis is a global public health emergency accounting for over 44 million confirmed cases and more than 1,000,000 deaths globally and has disrupted and transformed the delivery of healthcare. Though most information on COVID-19 is presented in a simple and easily understood manner, unfortunately, complex and sometimes false information pervade the “COVID-19 infodemic” which requires from individuals a degree of health literacy to be able to utilize the information correctly. Addressing health literacy and health communication, especially among our vulnerable population can significantly address health inequity that pervades the healthcare system and mitigate the effects of low/poor health literacy. In this fight against COVID-19 healthcare administrators, policy makers and clinicians should utilize the systems approach to health literacy and invest in capacity building in health literacy for health care practitioners and the public.

Keywords: Health literacy; COVID-19; Healthcare system burden; Capacity building healthcare practitioners