What is Health Awareness

Good health is essential for every human being. Health information is essential for maintaining good health, preventing diseases as well as making sound health decisions. People can only be able to access, utilize, and benefit from healthcare services if they have proper information about these services. It is here that health information literacy comes into play. The information related to every aspect of health is easily available today, but the main problem here lies in finding, selecting, and using relevant health information and preventing misinformation. Libraries have a pivotal role to play here. This chapter is mainly concerned with identifying the gaps in the provision of health information to the general public and the role of health information literacy in paving the way of filling up these gaps. It will be helpful in knowing the current standing of public and medical libraries in providing health information resources and services. It will also suggest the role of these libraries of India in promoting health information literacy among their respective user communities.