Health Communication Campaigns

Health Communication Campaigns
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Health Communication Campaigns
One of the ways to improve health care outcomes is using communication strategies central to healthcare information technologies. Currently, people are interacting with technology, and the healthcare field can use these technologies to pass information, receive ideas, which can improve the quality of healthcare. Through sharing ideas and receiving information about health, the society and health care professionals will make appropriate decisions on health matters. There are many advantages of using health communication and health IT as communication tools. As such, the objectives by Healthy People 2020 to realize the advantages are increasing health literacy skills, providing personalized self-management tools and resources, and facilitating meaningful use of health IT, including exchange of health information among healthcare and public health professionals (U.S. Department of Human and Health Services, 2012).
Although health literacy is a new concept in healthcare, the concept has gained much attention. Researchers, policy makers and healthcare professionals have shown interest in the concept because it has considerable impact on the health and wellbeing of the people. In fact, it is a stronger predictor of health outcomes than economic and social status, age, gender and education of an individual. For the public to gain health literacy skills, there must be a relationship between health providers and the public, brought together by appropriate communication channels, which in this case are healthcare information technologies. Inadequate levels of health literacy raise the costs of health care, and such people experience poorer health conditions despite the illness they encounter (Egbert, & Nanna, 2009).
Evidence comments that inadequate health literacy is more rampant in vulnerable populations such as the elderly, minorities, illiter...