Wisconsin Health Literacy (WHL) is a division of Wisconsin Literacy, Inc., a non-profit coalition of over 75 community-based literacy programs throughout the state. WHL works with both community-based organizations and healthcare organizations so that every person is able to find, understand, and use health information and services.
Mission: Advance health equity through health literacy in organizations and communities.
Vision: All people have the skills and a fair opportunity to be healthy.
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- Take a look at our website to learn more about our programs and services.
Health Literacy News
In honor of October being a time to formally recognize the importance of health literacy, the Governor has declared October 2023 as Health Literacy Month in Wisconsin.
WHL is pleased to share new mission and vision statements, which were adopted to better align with the activities and goals of the division:
Mission: Advance health equity through health literacy in organizations and communities.
Vision: All people have the skills and a fair opportunity to be healthy.
A unique partnership between Wisconsin Health Literacy’s Vaccine Community Outreach (VCO) initiative and the Eau Claire-based Black and Brown Womyn Power Coalition (BBWPC) resulted in a dramatic increase in COVID-19 vaccination rates among the Hmong population.
What is health literacy?
Healthy People 2030 defines health literacy as both personal and organizational:
- Personal health literacy is the degree to which individuals have the ability to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others.
- Organizational health literacy is the degree to which organizations equitably enable individuals to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others.
Any person can experience health literacy issues at some point in their life, which can result in high costs or poor health.
Health Literacy Services
Wisconsin Health Literacy offers training and consulting services customized to meet your organizational needs. Trainings focus on the numerous ways that health literacy impacts care delivery, health outcomes, and public health.
Medication Label
Wisconsin Health Literacy is working with a patient advisory council to design easy-to-read medication labels. Our work has impacted over 4 million prescription labels in Wisconsin.
Health Literacy Summit
The Health Literacy Summit is the largest in the Midwest.
Diverse sessions and networking opportunities provided attendees with the opportunity to learn more about health literacy.
Visit our Summit page for more information.
