Strengthening Health Literacy for Frontline Healthcare Professionals at Public Hospitals

Abstract

Training healthcare workers in resource-limited settings plays a pivotal role in improving health literacy. Vulnerable communities face challenges in accessing healthcare services, with limited resources and infrastructure exacerbating health disparities. Well designed, context-specific training programs can enhance the capacity of local healthcare workers to address challenges, empowering them to better educate the population and promote informed decision-making. The article addresses the training needs of public healthcare workers and the challenges through innovative, context-aware approaches that may assist to bridge the gap in healthcare access and education. This mixed method study explores how training can strengthen health literacy by equipping healthcare professionals with clinical knowledge, technical and communication skills to address the unique complexities of the South African public healthcare sector which is well known as a resource-constrained sector. An in-depth questionnaire was administered to 322 front line healthcare workers in two public hospitals at two provinces in South Africa. Finally, the article suggests that targeted training initiatives is required to foster a deeper understanding of the local socio-cultural dynamics and to improve service delivery.