Background: Health literacy (HL) is the ability of an individual to obtain and translate knowledge and information in order to maintain and improve health in a way that is appropriate to that individual and system contexts. It has become a priority for health in the 21st century, and many countries have included HL as a key priority in their policies and practices. However, in many African countries as Cameroon, information about the status of health literacy among population remains scarce. Objective: Given that HL is influenced by personal, situational and societal determinants, this study seeks to describe the HL of Cameroon population and its determinants. Methods: A survey using European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire short forms (HLS-EU-Q16) were conducted across the country. Both English and French version of HLSEU16 were used according to the fact that the country is bilingual. 1077 persons aged 15 and above participated. We used the four levels of health literacy of the European Consortium: insufficient, problematic, sufficient and excellent to present result. Results: At least 7 in 100 (13,9%) respondents showed insufficient HL and almost 1 in 2 (51,1%) had limited (insufficient or problematic) HL. Problematic HL is predominant in all subcategory of population. Subgroups within the population with low health literacy are those with more than two chronic diseases (F(3, 573) = 3,320, p = .020) and those living in village (F(2, 574) = 13,881, p = .001). Participant with high HL evaluate their health as very good (F(3, 573) = 20,416, p = .001) and are satisfied for their life (F(3, 573) = 24,310, p = .001). Discussion and conclusion: Insufficient and problematic HL represents an important challenge for health policies and practices across Cameroon like in many European countries. The influence of African socio-cultural aspect in health literacy must be taken into account when developing HL tools to ensure quality measurement and to improve health equity around the word.Background: Health literacy (HL) is the ability of an individual to obtain and translate knowledge and information in order to maintain and improve health in a way that is appropriate to that individual and system contexts. It has become a priority for health in the 21st century, and many countries have included HL as a key priority in their policies and practices. However, in many African countries as Cameroon, information about the status of health literacy among population remains scarce. Objective: Given that HL is influenced by personal, situational and societal determinants, this study seeks to describe the HL of Cameroon population and its determinants. Methods: A survey using European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire short forms (HLS-EU-Q16) were conducted across the country. Both English and French version of HLSEU16 were used according to the fact that the country is bilingual. 1077 persons aged 15 and above participated. We used the four levels of health literacy of the European Consortium: insufficient, problematic, sufficient and excellent to present result. Results: At least 7 in 100 (13,9%) respondents showed insufficient HL and almost 1 in 2 (51,1%) had limited (insufficient or problematic) HL. Problematic HL is predominant in all subcategory of population. Subgroups within the population with low health literacy are those with more than two chronic diseases (F(3, 573) = 3,320, p = .020) and those living in village (F(2, 574) = 13,881, p = .001). Participant with high HL evaluate their health as very good (F(3, 573) = 20,416, p = .001) and are satisfied for their life (F(3, 573) = 24,310, p = .001). Discussion and conclusion: Insufficient and problematic HL represents an important challenge for health policies and practices across Cameroon like in many European countries. The influence of African socio-cultural aspect in health literacy must be taken into account when developing HL tools to ensure quality measurement and to improve health equity around the word.

1. Health literacy and public health promotion

2. Health literacy and people with special needs