Salud America! aims to inspire people to drive community change for the health of Latino and all children.

Earlier this year, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) sought public feedback on its new definition of health literacy.

However, Salud America! thought it focused too little on the social determinants of health, so it drafted a revised definition for members to consider.

More than 40 network members then emailed HHS to push for the revised definition.

The differing definitions were as follows:

Old definition: “Health literacy is the degree to which an individual has the capacity to obtain, communicate, process, and understand basic health information and services to make appropriate health decisions.”

Working definition: “Health literacy occurs when a society provides accurate health information and services that people can easily find, understand, and use to inform their decisions and actions.”

Salud America!’s suggested definition: “Health literacy occurs when a society provides accurate information about health and social determinants of health that people can easily and equitably find, understand, and use to inform their decisions, actions and advocacy.”

salud-america.org