Health and digital literacy
PIF believes everyone should have access to health information they can understand and use to make informed decisions about their health. We campaign for health literacy at a policy level, encourage organisations to be health and digital literacy friendly and issue guidance on core topics.
Why does health literacy matter?
The UK population faces key barriers when seeking health information. PIF advocates for the principle of universal precaution to ensure access to appropriate health information for all.
- Half of UK adults struggle to access trusted health information.
- Half of the population are at or below primary school numeracy level.
- 2.2m people in the UK are still offline in a digital-by-default health system.
- 1 million people cannot speak English well or at all.
Our regular Health and Digital Literacy Surveys set out the progress made in the crucial areas of health and digital literacy. The results of our 2025 survey give cause for both optimism and concern.
Four in 10 organisations now have a health literacy policy in place or in development. This compares to 3 in 10 in 2023. But only 7 in 10 organisations are assessing the equalities impact of digital services. This is a drop from 8 in 10 in 2022/23. Concerns over misinformation were amplified, as new AI tools and social media algorithms fuelled the spread of misinformation, particularly in relation to medicines.
Our latest survey report makes the case for a renewed focus on health literacy, digital inclusion and trusted information signposting to avoid widening pre-existing health inequity in the midst of an infodemic.
