The Final Conference of the Innovative Digital Education for Active Healthy Living (IDEAHL) Horizon Europe project, focused on developing an EU strategy in the field of digital health literacy, will take place on 6 March In Brussels. The conference will showcase the collaborative efforts, providing a platform to share the achievements and project outcomes and engage in discussions surrounding the sustainability of the results.

Throughout the course of the project’s life, the group developed two crucial results:

The European digital Health Literacy Strategy – guidelines to improve dHL for the benefit of all citizens focusing on health promotion, disease prevention, treatment and (self-)care as well as on monitoring its impact on the quality of life, well-being, productivity, and the economy, taking into account geographic, social and economic determinants of inequities in digital health literacy.

The Global Atlas of Literacies for Health – an interactive resource that not only summarises the various existing health literacy instruments but presents the empirical evidence for how the tools have been used or evaluated and best practices in (digital) health literacy across Europe and beyond.

SCOPE AND PURPOSE OF THE PROJECT

Improving Digital Empowerment for Active Healthy Living (IDEAHL), funded by the Horizon Europe programme of the European Commission, is a project with the ultimate objective of empowering EU citizens to use digital tools and taking a more active role in the management of their own health and well-being, as well as supporting innovations for coordinated person-centered care models.

For this reason, IDEAHL developed and tested new models and approaches of (digital) health literacy intervention development and application through co-creating a (d)HL Strategy at European level. The Strategy focuses on health promotion, disease prevention, treatment and (self-)care. To maximise its impact in promoting healthier lifestyles, better health management and interaction with healthcare professionals across Europe, the Strategy considers geographic, social, and economic determinants of inequities in (d)HL. Moreover, the project adopts a truly bottom-up approach by ensuring wide stakeholders’ involvement.

In the initial stage of the project, IDEAHL strengthened its knowledge base by mapping (d)HL research, policies, projects, and existing practices in Europe and beyond. Specific attention was paid on existing literature and knowledge about the key citizen groups considered by IDEAHL, along with gender dimension, social innovation, ethics and privacy, and inclusiveness.

To complement the mapping of (d)HL, representatives of practice from healthcare and social services— as well as citizens in general— were involved in a large co-creation exercise in the 10 partner countries to identify and discuss obstacles, difficulties, and areas of improvement related with (d)HL, eventually supporting the development of a (d)HL Strategy at European level. In addition, a network of key stakeholders for the promotion of (d) HL across the EU (and beyond) to foster the exchange and uptake of best practices will also be developed.

Digital Health Literacy is a strategic objective of the action plan, with a clear reference also in the resolution that urges Member States to “measuring the digital health literacy of health workers and citizens and enhance their skills through digital health literacy programmes”.

You can find out more about the project here.