One in two Maltese adults have limited health literacy and the majority struggle to access information about common mental health problems such as stress and depression, according to a survey unveiled during a seminar this morning.
The Malta Health Literacy Survey 2014 shed light on the need to better invest in mental health awareness.
It also highlighted the need to analyse the wrong health-related messages shared in the media. This was because a large amount of people found it problematic to use the media to protect themselves from illness and to judge the reliability of the information. They also found it difficult to decide whether to seek a second medical opinion.
"I worry a lot when I see these results," Mental Health Commissioner John Cachia said.
He said health literacy was a complex concept. The health system, he said, could be divided into three main sections - care, prevention and promotion. Health literacy looked into how easily people accessed information and the systems themselves.
Results showed good literacy in healthcare but poorer literacy when it came to prevention and promotion.
Dr Cachia said 1,500 adults were asked to take part in a 16-question questionnaire. People were asked to rank whether they - for example - found information about illnesses that concerned them.
Results showed that 45 per cent of the population had a sufficient level of health literacy while 42.5 had a problematic level.
People found it easy to follow professionals' instructions, follow information about smoking and alcohol, instructions on medicines and were aware about the importance of screening.
Vulnerable groups, who had poor health literacy, included people over 76, residents of Gozo and Comino, people with more than one long-term illness, those with a high body-mass index, people with low income and education and people with perceived bad health.
People with lower health literacy also had a tendency to be admitted to the hospital emergency department more frequently.
Malta has a mean score of 34 on the Health Literacy Index (a scale from 0 to 50) when compared to the European average of 33.8.
The full report will be available tomorrow on the Commissioner for Mental Health website.