Health literacy in Pakistan: Exploring new ways of addressing an old challenge

Pakistan continues to struggle with low health literacy that often results in late presentation of disease, poor adherence to treatment and meagre understanding of wellness and disease prevention. In a country burdened by diseases of the developing and the developed world, with poor healthcare infrastructure and low literacy levels improving healthcare literacy could have major influence on health and wellness of our masses. Utilising our rapidly expanding mobile technology and media for dissemination of health information is a viable solution. Public service announcements for media and health information apps for mobile technology can be developed by the government, health sector and media partnership. A systematic, multi-level targeted approach to health literacy would allow health seekers the opportunity to understand and comprehend disease prevention, symptomatology and treatment.