Abstract
After the first wave of the COVID 19 pandemic, the severity of the disease in certain countries was attributed to a lack of basic education among the inhabitants. We therefore sought to elucidate the role of education and health literacy in health behaviours.
This work demonstrates that, alongside genetics, the affective and educational family environment as well as general education, has a strong influence on health starting from the very first days of life. Epigenetics plays a major role in the determination of health and disease (DOHAD), as well as in the characterization of gender. Other factors such as socio-economic level, parental education, and school in urban or rural areas, play a major role in the differential acquisition of health literacy. This in turn determines the propensity to engage in healthy lifestyle, or risky behaviours and substance abuse, but also determines compliance with hygiene rules and adherence to vaccines and treatments. The combination of all these elements and lifestyle choices facilitates the emergence of metabolic disorders (obesity, diabetes), which promote cardiovascular, renal, and neurodegenerative diseases, explaining why less educated individuals have shorter survival and spend more years of life with disability.
After having demonstrated the impact of the educational level on health and longevity, the members of the present inter-academic group propose specific educational actions at three levels: 1) Children, their parents, and teachers; 2) health professionals; and 3) aging people, emphasizing that these crucial actions can only be carried out with the unfailing support of state and academic authorities.
S. Karger AG, Basel
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