This research measured Health Literacy in the three levels of the University of Panama: teachers, administrators and students.

The term "health literacy", comes from the English Health Literacy, has been gaining relevance through the ages.

In health there are terms that can make us think of an approach to the subject (prevention, promotion, early detection, among others), but reality indicates that Health Literacy goes further. It is a condition that allows self-management of health and self-care, through empowerment processes and assertive decision-making, consequently reducing morbidity and mortality of people, improving their living conditions and favoring the general health conditions of the inhabitants of a country; which reduces the expenses in Public Health of a government.

It intended to measure the degree of literacy in the university community and manage aspects aimed at improving it.

The study was exploratory, the sample of 1,234 subjects, non-probabilistic type. 10.2% were teachers, 11.5% were administrative, and 78.3% were students. It was distributed in 19 faculties.

The instrument developed by the European project, which derives from the conceptual model, adapted through a pilot survey, was used. The model is made up of three relevant areas: Health Care, Disease Prevention and Health Promotion and four processing stages related to health, relevant for decision-making and relevant tasks. The results reflected limited health literacy in the three dimensions considered. The survey was applied at the University of Panama, during the second semester of 2015. The research was presented in the work: Promotion, Literacy and Intervention in Health, Experiences from Multidiscipline in 2019, under the publication and dissemination of the University Autonomous National of Mexico.