Consumer Literacy 

Quality Use of Medicines (QUM) Health Literacy is a central objective of the National Strategy for Quality Use of Medicines (2002). The strategy describes good QUM health literacy as the following behaviours:  

• Consumers asking for – and utilising – objective information about medication.  

• Consumers are aware of the risks and benefits of the medication they are taking.  

• Consumers developing skills to use medicines appropriately.  

• Consumers are aware of the place that medicines have in the broader health and social context.  

CHF’s 2020 report Consumer Health Literacy Segmentation and Activation Research Project identified many resources and tools available to support QUM health literacy in Australia. However, there is insufficient health program evaluation data to assess their accessibility and appropriateness for consumers.  

This lack of data on uptake, utilisation, and impact leads to a lack of a strategic, coordinated approach to meeting the needs of communities that - due to structural and systemic inequalities - are at higher risk of harm from poor QUM health literacy. These include older people, Culturally and Linguistically Diverse people, people living with an intellectual disability, and Indigenous peoples.  

In 2024, as part of the 2023 Quality Use of Diagnostics, Therapeutics and Pathology (QUDTP) grants, CHF was asked by the Department of Health and Aged Care to fill this gap by creating a National QUM Health Literacy Roadmap. The National QUM Health Literacy Roadmap will allow organisations to engage with a broader evaluative framework, ensuring maximum impact and consolidating their role in the QUM health literacy sector. The roadmap will also identify shared goals and key measures of success in QUM health literacy across the short, medium and long term.