Global research on health literacy
Established in 2020, GLOBHL is the first network dedicated to transnational research on health literacy and related public health topics.
COVID-19 as a starting point
The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020 gave rise to the idea of a survey on digital health literacy and health information seeking behaviour among university students in higher education institutions in Germany.
Thanks to the cooperation and active participation of many highly committed colleagues, the survey has grown into a global survey under the name COVID-HL Universities, which was implemented in 30 countries with a total of almost 65,000 respondents. This study is considered the starting point of GLOBHL, which back in 2020 was launched as the Global COVID-Health Literacy Network (COVID-HL).
Research in schools and hospitals
Due to the negative effects the Covid-19 pandemic had on education systems worldwide, there was a great need for research in the school setting. With the COVID-HL school principal survey, we have focused our efforts to explore the situation of school leaders, their health outcomes, and the state of school health promotion activities during school closures. School leaders represent key agents to enable and deliver school health promotion and this target group had been severely neglected in previous research with only little evidence available.
With the growing number of members, further research ideas were brought into COVID-HL. The COVID-19-survivor study, which was jointly conducted with the Asian Health Literacy Association (AHLA) and the Health Research Alliance (HRA), represents the third global study of COVID-HL. A fourth study is the COVID-HL-nursing school study, which focuses on principals of nursing education and training institutions and so far has been implemented only in Germany.
Beyond the pandemic
Three years after the launch of the first survey, a global network with an international reputation had been established without any research funding. In 2024, the Global COVID-HL Network has been renamed to the Global Health Literacy Research Network (GLOBHL), which is based on the same principles and mission of the COVID-HL Network. Even if the COVID-19 pandemic seems to be controlled now and may lost some of its urgency, the importance of health literacy and related topics remains unchanged, is even growing, and requires more attention than ever. More so, there is a great need for research that is carried out in a methodically consistent manner across countries. GLOBHL continues to address this need with all its members and studies.
100+
Researchers from over 40 countries
3
Global surveys in different settings
45+
Publications in peer-reviewed journals
Coordination
GLOBHL is currently coordinated by an interdisciplinary team of reseachers from Germany located at Fulda University of Applied Sciences and Technical University of Munich.
Kevin Dadaczynski
Professor
Kevin is professor for Health Information and Health Communication at the Department for Health Sciences at Fulda University of Applied Science, more info: www.dadaczynski.net
Orkan Okan
Professor
Orkan is professor for Health Literacy at the School of Medicine and Health at Technical University Munich and director of WHO-CC on Health Literacy
Be part of the
global journey.
Whether you are a early career or a senior researcher, you are welcome to join the Global Health Literacy Reserach Network. The only requirement is that you are an active researcher in the field of health literacy or relevant public health fields and are interested in actively and regularly participating in the activities of the network.
What we believe in
We live in an age in which health-related information is omnipresent. Good and reliable information exists alongside less reliable and misleading information. The challenge is to support people in their ability to search for, find, evaluate and use health-related information and at the same time to create the conditions for all people, regardless of their cultural, social and economic background, to acquire these skills. We therefore understand health literacy as the result of a relational relationship between systemic framework conditions and individual skills.
Our Vision
Our vision is a society that equitably enables all people to find, understand and use health-related information and services for their own and other people's health. This requires a "Health Literacy in All-Policies" approach.
Our Mission
To realize our vision, we aim to advance global health literacy research for diverse populations and settings to generate insights that inform public health policy and practice. In addition to generating scientific knowledge, this also requires their communication and joint discussion with all relevant stakeholders.
Our goals
Global Awareness of Health Literacy
Increase awareness towards health literacy as a tool to prevent diseases and to prmote global health
Navigate Information
Increase awareness towards health literacy as a tool to prevent diseases and promote global health
Transfer of Knowledge
Translate knowledge into practical action and inform public health policy making
Create a Global Community
Establish a global network on health literacy in the context of disease prevention and global health promotion
Governance
With the transition of the COVID-HL network into the Global Health Literacy Reserach network, a governance structure is also gradually being established. The network currently consists of a coordination and working groups. Working groups temporarily or permanently deal with specific areas and work together on overarching issues and topics.
Methods
Working Groups
This working group deals with methodological issues of the GLOBHL research (e.g. harmonization, merging and analyses of survey data), members: Rafaela Rosario, Daniel Frings, Angela Leung, Kevin Dadaczynski
Kevin Dadaczynski
Kevin is professor for Health Information and Health Communication at the Department for Health Sciences at Fulda University of Applied Science, more info: www.dadaczynski.net
Orkan Okan
Orkan is professor for Health Literacy at the School of Medicine and Health at Technical University Munich and director of WHO-CC on Health Literacy
