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OUR
MISSION
is to save lives by improving patient safety and quality of
care through increased health literacy across the healthcare
spectrum. We will accomplish this goal through
collaborative research, advocacy and educational
initiatives, and by increasing the availability of resources
that support health literacy efforts in HIV (or hepatitis on
freehep)
CHALLENGES
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Addressing the needs of diverse and underserved US
populations such as immigrants, incarcerated youth,
migrants, people of color, pregnant teens and substance
abusers
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Disparities of health care related to age, educational
attainment, speaking English as a second language,
health insurance coverage, income, and race/ethnic
background
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People with limited health literacy are more likely to
need hospital care, have poorer health habits and less
likely to use preventive services
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Poor
health literacy has been identified to be a pervasive
problem in our society which negatively impacts the
ability of people to receive appropriate medical
treatment.
The
Institute of Medicine (IOM), a component of the
National Academy of Sciences, comments:
“Comprehending medicine's arcane jargon is difficult for
even the most educated of laymen. It's almost impossible for
millions who can't read well, aren't fluent in English, or
have vision or cognitive problems caused by aging”. (For
more information, go to
http://www.iom.edu/ )
”In addition, the InfoDyne Literacy Project, the
University of Illinois and Visionary Health Concepts
published a research report (InfoDyne) of a survey which
explored the information dynamics of 662 HIV-positive
people (http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1250318),
that uncovered among other things, the deep challenge of
health literacy in HIV disease and its management.
FreeHIVinfo.com will develop appropriate educational
programs and materials for a wide range of community
segments that help physicians, government programs and 3rd
party payors increase health literacy where it counts, thus
saving lives.
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