The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) commends the conference organizers for the work presented at the Annual Health Literacy Conference and published here. The 2004 Institute of Medicine report, Health Literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion, aptly describes the constellation of factors that are influential in determining the health context of individuals’ lives. Emerging research has begun to reveal that limited health literacy is an important contributor to racial and ethnic health disparities. While the underlying factors of health disparities are complex and multi-dimensional (e.g., biological, environmental, social, and economic), the relative importance of these factors varies depending on circumstance—and, therefore, these factors are not equal. Moreover, for those that are more amenable to intervention, NIMHD sees opportunities to accelerate the pace of scientific discovery and translation. Indeed, interventions to mitigate health literacy barriers can produce tangible change.
Building on a decade of progress, the NIMHD has supported health disparity research through a number of mechanisms including its signature Centers of Excellence program, Small Business Innovation Research program, Building Research Infrastructure and Capacity program, and Community-Based Participatory Research Initiative. Health literacy research, like research on health disparities, demands a multi-disciplinary approach to understand the various vulnerabilities associated with limited health literacy. Individuals vulnerable to disparities and disability through limited health literacy require interventions that address the complexities of their lives. The complex nature of these problems requires the engagement of a broad range of research methodologies to develop interventions that matter. Some of the proven strategies to reduce health literacy barriers are: 1) more careful attention to physician-client communication, 2) use of multiple communication channels to convey health information, and 3) development of easy-to-use educational materials that are culturally appropriate to convey essential information.
NIMHD funds research in health literacy out of a conviction that this field holds one of the keys to the optimistic promise of individual empowerment and better health and will contribute to the elimination of health disparities. Yet, there are many challenges ahead. The health care system remains riddled with an unnecessary amount of complexity, the iatroculture has not embraced patient education or patient activation as a core tenet—and patients continue to suffer the consequences.
The next decade will focus on bridging the persistent gaps in health disparities, sustaining effective investments, and developing and adapting innovative approaches to eliminate health disparities. As the steward of biomedical and behavioral research, it is incumbent on the NIH and others to provide State and Federal opportunities to foster rigorous research and demand that evidence-based practices be used to meet the needs of patients at all levels of health literacy. Members of the research community also have the responsibility to produce high-quality research, to be innovative, and seek reproducible models that can be disseminated for high impact.
In today's culturally diverse and technologically advanced society, the construction of health messages that do not consider culture, history, environment, or literacy levels of health disparity communities are destined to fail. NIMHD is committed to supporting and developing vehicles to translate and deliver research findings and health information to health disparity communities in a culturally and linguistically appropriate manner. Please join us in this crucial effort so that future generations reap the clinical benefits of research.
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