Men’s Health Literacy in Australia: In Search of a Gender Lens

Abstract

Proposed Australian health system reforms allude to health literacy as a major lever for a ‘well informed public’ and helping individuals assume more responsibility for their health. New national men’s and women’s health policies also acknowledge, to varying degrees, the importance of health literacy, but with little indication of why gender might be relevant. This omission reflects the absence of a coherent evidence base on health literacy and gender in Australia as well as in countries where health literacy has been more extensively examined. A lack of consensus on approaches to defining, measuring, and reporting on health literacy adds to the difficulties. We propose that viewing health literacy through a “gender lens” would contribute to building a much-needed evidence base about men’s health literacy.