A major debate in health and health promotion has always been how to balance between an approach that focuses on strengthening resources and resilience and one that focuses on problems and risks. In all these debates, education plays a major role as a key social determinant of health or as a specific strategy health education to increase peoples’ knowledge and skills necessary for the development and maintenance of individual and community health. More recently a new term has entered this debate: Health Literacy. Health Literacy has been receiving increased attention as a critical component for managing personal health and navigating an ever more complex health system, enabling people to act as an informed citizen in the so called emergent health society.

Ilona Kickbush, Daniela Maag, in "SALUTE E SOCIETÀ" 1/2007, pp. 185-200, DOI: