Abstract:
Some various communication strategies and techniques in health can be engineered to
construct health literacy, that is a condition in which an individual has a capacity to get
involved, proceed and comprehend information of basic health and health service
required to consider the health decision for him orherseif and their environment. The
health communication program can be designed to bridge the gap of health literacy in
various community types and characteristics in West Java. The health communication is
aimed at disseminating messages, influence, and motivate the target audience to have
healthy behavior. The field of health communication today needs to be developed through
some strategies and tactics intensively, either through face-to-face communication or
through the use of media including convergent media.
Based on the condition above, through the descriptive study, it was studied the portrait
of actual health literacy in West Java communities, especially in Pamanukan district as
the representation of coastal community, and Ciwidey district representing the mountain
community in West Java province. The description resulted from this research would be
the in put to set up the program of ideal health development communication in other
areas in Indonesia having the similar social-geographical co ridition.
The research contributed the description of public audience skill in evaluating information
about credibility and quality of health service, analyzing risk alternatives and advantages
of medical acts, calculating drug doses, interpreting the laboratory test result as well as
using the health information for daily life. The research spec qically found the model of
message packaging, communication technique and strategy as well health communication
media in accordance with the social-geographical condition of the public audience.
