The European Health Literacy Survey (HLS-EU)

The European Health Literacy Survey (HLS-EU) is a project hosted by Maastricht University which aim is to help establish the issue of health literacy in Europe.

The objectives for HLS-EU running from 2009 – 2011 are to:

• establish a European Health Literacy Network
• adapt a model instrument for measuring health literacy in Europe
• generate first-time data on health literacy in European countries, providing indicators for national and EU monitoring
• make comparative assessment of health literacy in European countries
• create National Advisory Boards in countries participating in the survey and to document different valorization strategies following national structures and priorities.

Partners

The HLS-EU project is carried out in cooperation with partners in nine European countries:

• Maastricht University, the Netherlands
• National School of Public Health, Greece
• University College of Dublin, National University of Ireland, Ireland
• Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft GmbH, Austria
• Instytut Kardiologii, Poland
• Fundació Biblioteca Josep Laporte, Spain
• Medical University - Sofia, Bulgaria
• National Institute of Public Health and the Environment, The Netherlands
• Landesinstitut für Arbeit und Gesundheit NRW (LIGA.NRW), Germany

Furthermore are several organisations and institutes supporting the project as collaborating partners:

• Institute of Public Health in Crakow, Poland
• Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, China
• Scientific Institute of Public Health, Brussels, Belgium
• National Adult Literacy Database, Canada
• Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority, Germany
• Institute for Medical Informatecs, Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Germany
• Public Health Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia
• National School of Public Health, Lisboa, Portugal
• Center for Health Policies and Services, Bucharest, Bulgaria
• European Patient's Forum, Brussels, Belgium
• Instituto di Ricerche Farmacologieche Mario Negri, Milan, Italy
• University Hospital of North Norway, Tromsoe, Norway
• University of Adelaide, Australia
• Ministry of Health and Children, Dublin, Ireland
• National Consumers Council, United Kingdom 

HLS-EU has received funding from the European Union, in the framework of the Public Health Programme.

More information

Project coordinator Kristine Sorensen
Department of International Health
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences
Maastricht University
Email: k.sorensen@inthealth.unimaas.nl