Questions/Answers

Thailand faces health crisis and confusion among citizens with difficult health information for appropriate decision. Especially urban society which is complex and diverse with rapid socio-economic communication and environmental changes, the lifestyle is hustling and stress, additionally overwhelmed by health information, both accurate and inaccurate while noncommunicable diseases have increased. They have to rely on expensive medical services and medicines. Medical personnel are overloaded in treating such patients. Key factor in sustaining healthy people and important concept that emerged from the World Health Organization is health literacy through the use of their own intellectual and social skills, leads to better health outcomes for individuals, families, communities, societies, and national levels. Health literacy encompasses continuous action throughout the person's life include accessing, understanding, evaluating various information and health services provided by several channels which lead people to make self-determination decisions and manage their own health and environmental conditions to prevent illness and maintain well-being of their families and communities. The purpose were 1.1 To provide citizens with access to knowledge, understand health information and services assess and decide on their own health care approach, and can tell others. 1.2 To increase the level of urban people's health literacy and healthier habits.

This initiative falls under award categories for efficiency and accountability in government entities. It is also a mechanism for health reform to drive a 20-year national strategy to reduce health problems and simplify the system which is done by the public health personnel, education agency and all sectors are involved in empowering people with intellectual and social skills to apply health knowledge. It leads to a better life for the poor, the disadvantage, the disabled, children, women and the elderly, who can have access to, understand and make decisions about health care equally and correctly.

This initiative is alignment with Goal 3: Promote good health of the population, subsection 3.4 Reduce one third death in premature from noncommunicable diseases and consistent with Goal 5 Gender Equality Clause 5.5 ensures that women participate fully, effectively and have equal opportunities to lead at all levels of decision-making in the political, economic and public spheres by Health Literacy Organization process to public and private sectors driven through the Districts Health Board in all ages until people have necessary health behavior and tell others, understand and decide to proceed repeatedly until this become a social culture and sustainability.

Health literacy is empowering people understand their rights, duties and capable to bring own health promotion and prevention through healthcare system about health risks in health products and services. The result derives from adequate health literacy. Establishing a health literacy organization influences health care behaviors resulting in improved outcomes by reducing the cost of government treatment, reduce severity of the disease and premature death. Patients with low levels of health literacy will spend up to four times as much on healthcare unit, the health outcome is worse 1.5 to 3 times, twice the risk of hospital admissions of patients with higher health knowledge. Creating a health literacy process, especially accurate medical and public communication, science of cultural is beneficial for society. Action is taken to reduce health and environmental risks to cover all age groups and all health operations dimensions including disadvantaged groups such as children, women and the elderly can access to information by designing health media and meeting the needs of health care together with the target group and the vital life skills of modern society. Daily habits influence well-being of sophisticated urban setting. The rate of illness that requires hospitalization is reduced due to awareness of health.

This process innovation, Health Literacy Organization, enable people to have access, understand, assess and communicate health information in a specific way to maintain healthy through life by protecting health product and reduce risk factor by promoting healthy environment by cooperating with the Metropolitan Health and Wellness Institution for Urban Development Under the Plan 1) improve the quality of life for all age groups in Bangkok 2) Prevention and control of diseases and health hazards. 3) Reduce health risks and protect consumer and 4) Environmental Health in Bangkok.

The Metropolitan Health and Wellness Institution has been working to develop health knowledge through the network under Health Literacy Organizations as follows: 1) Health Literate pre-school children's Center, Siripongthammanimit 2) Sarawittaya, Health Literate School 3) NXP Manufacturing (Thailand) Ltd., Health Literate workplace 4) Monks volunteer to conduct health courses and Health Literate Temples in Bangkok and 5) Bangkok Green and Clean Hospital Plus standard (BKKGC +), Health Literate Hospitals in the metropolitan area.

The project has produced media as exhibitions, prototypes and services. Numerous of agencies both government and private sector visit Sarawittaya School to study health literacy process in educational institution. The institute has delivered the concept and process to the national level and has been invited to provide lectures in various academic forums on the path to a well-informed hospital and extends to 10 children centers of 1,200 people, 134 community clinics of 670 people, 3 Quality of Life Colleges with 200 elderly, 200 temples with 14,000 monks, 6 district office on 1,200 officials and 3 enterprises with 4,500 workers.

The implementation of the health literacy process utilizes the Institute's human resources. The budget is financed by the Health Promotion Fund of 10,000,000 Thai Baht and shared prototype network, human resource materials and time allocation together. Prototype organizations have ownership of health problems. Their commitment is to monitor and solve the health of the population in the organization.

The factors that contribute to sustainability are: 1) Network of co-operators, including all personnel in the organization, family and community, to participate in the planning of their own health surveillance include design activities to build key message to promote health, have a healthy behavior and also transfer knowledge to family, community and develop to a more valuable level. 2) Conduct interaction learning between service providers, clients and among patients. Service providers can address problems by themselves to reduce economic loss and burden of family. It also helps to create value by encouraging the introduction of knowledge, provide valuable experience and disseminate to society. 3) The policy of the prototype organization emphasizing the importance of environmental health aiming to manage healthy environment and innovation in hospital and collaborate with other organizations in Bangkok. Society in the urban area are protected by their rights. The environment is conducive to living for a better quality of life with the technology and knowledge appropriate for community, so the formation of the prototype is a matter that everyone must participate in taking responsibility for the opportunity to be sustainable, this will have a greater effect than the state organizing activities unilaterally.

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The formal evaluation of the project is divided into 2 parts: pre-project evaluation and after project implementation. Multidisciplinary teams, such as the Department of Health, the National Reform Commission on Public Health and the Environment Using the tool as the self-assessment form of the knowledge organization, a politeness assessment form, Public health information in each setting, observations records, interviews, and progress reports on the implementation of the program to the Health Promotion Fund reoccurring every six months.

People can easily access information, knowledge and services, make appropriate decision to alter their health behavior. They also use health care properly and tell others to maximize the benefits to others in society. Health literacy has increased by 25%. Health literacy organizations include: 1) Pre-school children's center, Siripongthammanimit, 2) Health Literate School, Sarawittaya 3) NXP Manufacturing (Thailand) Ltd. 4) Quality of Life Development College with six points to happiness.

The direct impact in the children's center is a shift in attitudes towards motherhood, a teacher who is knowledgeable about early childhood health. They can address interpersonal questions within the group and make decisions in the Buddhist way and in the intellectual, experiential, and behavioral settings, tell the next generation of teachers correctly. The students in Sarawittaya School had increased the level of health literacy from 7.0% to 15.0%. Students with obesity and obesity tend to decrease from 72.7% to 42.6%. The mean BMI increased from 42.5% to 47.5%. The normal waist rate was increased from 50% to 67.5%.

1) The multidisciplinary team consists of physicians, nurses, nutritionists, sports scientists. Public health technicians, Thai traditional medicine, and staff are skilled in using information technology, communication skills to enhance knowledge. They make the necessary understandings and play a role in promoting health literacy by organizing activities and services in all dimensions. Promoting a health literacy organization has influenced the health care behaviors of people in the organization and used health services that are consistent with that of the state. 2) Network partners include private sector entities such as NXP. Manufacturing (Thailand), Pre-school Children's Center: Watsiiripongthammanimit, Assumption School and Community Clinic. The government sectors are Sarawittaya School, Prachapiban School, District Official, Public Health Center, etc. For people sector including Quality of Life promoting College and the elderly club develop policies that focus on health literacy, health plan, and health monitoring including easy-to-understand activities and media design. Creating knowledge in accordance with the context and needs of people in the organization to adapt to the desired health behavior was carried out. The knowledge has also been transferred to their family and community.

In order to drive implementing to sustainability, organizational change is compulsory. Health literacy ideas and practices are required to be integrated at the policy level of the organization and every service process. The emphasis is on the ease and convenience of access. It is called a health literacy organization or organizations that are capable of responding to diverse health care providers, such as easy-to-understand health information, easy and convenient access to the building and inspiring and motivating staff to conduct regularly.