To care for our physical and mental well-being, we need information about our health. Health literacy is the ability to find, understand, and use health information.
Whether you’re looking to teach health literacy skills, share health information in a way that’s easy for people to understand, or boost your own health literacy, these resources can help. Learn more about how to use the resources on this page.
Health information is often full of unfamiliar medical terms, scientific concepts, and other complex information. Uncertainty and risk can make it hard to know what to do when a health problem happens. When people are feeling overwhelmed — like when they’re sick or stressed about a new diagnosis — it’s even harder to process new information. People in rural areas, people with low income, people of color, people with disabilities, and people whose first language isn’t English may face even more obstacles to getting the health information they need.
By building health literacy skills and communicating health information in a way that’s easy to understand, you can empower people to make informed choices about their health.
Ready-to-use Teaching Tools
Planning a lesson or program on health literacy? Check out our Teaching Information Literacy Skills toolkit. You'll find interactive lesson plans and worksheets that you can use to teach health literacy and other information literacy skills in your community, in your classroom, or at home. Explore the toolkit.
Looking for a basic introduction to health literacy? These resources are a great place to start.
Created by the Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM)
A brief introduction to health literacy, along with training resources to foster health literacy in your community
Created by the Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM)
Free, research-based health resources and training opportunities for public libraries and other community organizations that serve public health needs
Created by the Office of the U.S. Surgeon General (OSG)
Toolkit designed to help people identify false or incorrect health information
Created by the Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM)
Resources, funding opportunities, and tools to help professionals find reliable health information and address false information
Use these lessons to teach key health literacy skills.
Created by the U.S. Department of Education (ED)
A health literacy lesson plan, along with guidance on teaching health literacy skills to adult learners
Learn how to communicate health information in a way that’s easy for people to understand.
Created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Guidance on communicating about health topics in a way that’s easy to understand
Created by National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Resources on topics like health literacy, cultural respect, plain language, and more
Created by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Health Security
Playbook with guidance, tools, templates, and examples to support addressing false health information and rumors
Created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Webpage with guidance on using visuals in health communication
Created by the University of Michigan Library
Searchable dictionary with plain language alternatives for medical and health-related terms
Find out how libraries, museums, and educational institutions across the country are advancing health literacy.
Created by the Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC) and partner organizations
An initiative that funded museums and libraries working to build COVID-19 vaccine confidence in their communities
Created by the National Library of Medicine (NLM)
Find out what health science libraries, public libraries, and other community-based organizations across the U.S. are doing to cultivate health literacy with funding from NLM
Use these tools to evaluate the impact of health-related programs in your community.
Created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
A framework and resources to help professionals evaluate health literacy-related programs
Created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
A practical framework that professionals can use to evaluate health-related programs
Created by the Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM)
Evaluation and dissemination resources for NNLM funding recipients, library professionals, and other community-based professionals
Created by the agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
Tools to measure someone's ability to find, understand, and use information and services to make informed health decisions
Check out these funding opportunities for health literacy initiatives.
Funded by the Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM)
NNLM offers regional funding opportunities to support health literacy programs
Funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
NIH offers a variety of funding opportunities for programs that address health literacy at the community level
