This presentation emphasizes the critical link between literacy and public health, advocating for collaborative efforts between health and education systems to address literacy inequities and improve overall health outcomes. Key points include: -There are significant inequities in literacy education. -Literacy is a crucial social determinant of health, possibly the most important. -Clarification between "Health literacy" , “Health for literacy" and “Literacy for Public Health” -Discussion of controversies and evidence. We will explore how increasing child literacy improves long-term outcomes into adulthood and then into the next generation. We will examine some of the barriers to scaling up effective literacy education and how to overcome them by debunking either/or false dichotomies and embracing both/and approaches like play & learning, equity & evidence. Models like Mississippi’s reading program will be looked at for key elements of success.
