Health literacy entails people's competencies to access, understand, appraise, and apply health information. Health literacy plays an increasingly important role in child and adolescent health promotion and disease prevention, especially in relation to managing health information, making health decisions and living a healthy life. However, health literacy of children and adolescents must always be considered in relation to the health literacy of systems and organizations in which children live, learn and play, because they have a major impact on both their personal health literacy and health behavior.

For some years now, health literacy of children and adolescents is gaining attraction in context of health socialization, because in early life the essentials are formed for health, well-being and healthy development over the course of life. The younger the children, the more important it is to focus their caregivers, primarily the parents, who are critical acors to support and promote their children`s health and help them to develop health-promoting behaviors and health literacy.

Health literacy of children and adolescents is being investigated in the research consoritum Health Literacy in Childhood and Adolescence (HLCA). In HLCA, research mainly focusses on exploring health literacy, mental health literacy and digital health literacy of children and adolescents as well as of adults (teachers, educators, parents, health professionals). HLCA is funded by the German Federal Minitsry of Education and Research (BMBF) since 2015 and is already in its second funding period. Since 2018, the focus of HLCA is on applied research with a significant focus on practice. The main objective of the second funding period is to close science-to-practice and science-to-service gaps in child and adolescent health literacy and respond to the poor availability of health literacy programmes and strategies for child and youth health.