Kristine Sørensen founder of the Global Health Literacy Academy, President of the International Health Literacy Association, and Executive Chair of Health Literacy Europe, brings extensive expertise to the field of health literacy. She currently serves as a visiting lecturer at Bielefeld University in Germany, MCI School of Management in Innsbruck, Austria, and the Centre of European Studies at Maastricht University in the Netherlands.
In a recent LinkedIn post Sørensen outlines how organisations can integrate health literacy into their institutional structures and organisational culture to achieve better population health outcomes. Her central argument challenges conventional thinking: health literacy should not rest on individual responsibility alone. Instead, it must be woven into system design itself—making healthcare environments, public health infrastructure, and digital services inherently easier to navigate for all users.
The global landscape remains limited, with only a handful of nations having developed comprehensive national action plans dedicated to health literacy. A 2025 World Health Organization (WHO) technical report provides valuable insights into why and how countries such as China, the United States, Scotland, Germany, Portugal, and Norway embarked on this journey toward building health-literate societies. The report examines the concept of health literacy, the political imperatives behind these initiatives, and practical lessons from nations that have made health literacy a political priority to enhance health outcomes and public engagement. Notably, each country has tailored its strategy to local needs and engaged different combinations of stakeholders throughout the development process.
Since the research was conducted, Slovenia has progressed with its own national plan through a collaborative co-creation model that brings together representatives from government institutions, academia, and civil society organisations. Other nations, including Australia, are currently in various stages of implementing their national action plans, suggesting growing momentum in this field.
Read the full World Heath Organisation report at this link
Summary by Deger Kesimoglu, volunteer for the Alliance for Pulmonary Hypertension