NECON, a not-for-profit, non-partisan organization that serves as a vehicle for the development and enhancement of disease prevention and health promotion public policies and practices in New England, held its 33rd gathering with a conference entitled "Health Literacy for All: Moving Forward" on April 1, 2011, at the Royal Plaza Conference Center in Marlboro, MA. The conference opened with remarks by NECON Chair Bertram Yaffe and Mass. Department of Public Health (DPH) Bureau of Community Health and Prevention director Cheryl Bartlett followed by a keynote presentation on health literacy by Arthur J. Culbert, Ph.D., President of Health Literacy Missouri. Additional panels on Achieving Health Literacy, Creating Political Will and Implementing the Social Strategy featured both topic experts and legislative representatives from several of the six states that comprise the New England Governor's Conference. Click here for all of the photos of the conference. Click here for a video of the opening remarks and keynote presentation. Click here for photos of the 2010 conference. For more information about NECON, contact Bert Yaffe.
 

(Top row, left) NECON organizer Bert Yaffe opens the conference with a challenge to participants to move the agenda of health literacy into the political arean. (Top row, center) Mass. Department of Public Health Bureau of Community Health and Prevention director Cheryl Bartlett notes how the NECON agenda overlays Commissioner Auerbach's efforts to promote health equity. (Top row, right) Arthur J. Culbert, Ph.D., President of Health Literacy Missouri talks about how an emphasis on health literacy is built into the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. (Middle row) Steven Miller, Executive Director of the New England Healthy Weight Initiative, and Durrell Fox of the Mass. Association of Community Health Workers pose questions about how best to implement health literacy in community settings. (Bottom row, left and center) Walter Willett, MD, DrPH, Chairman of the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health comments on some of the confusing health messages, including the USDA food pyramid, that have been presented to the public as DPH Medical Director Dr. Lauren Smith listens. (Bottom row, right) Rhode Island State representative Eileen Naughton describes her efforts to address prevention within state government as Massachusetts Representative and vice-chair of the Public Health Committee Jason Lewis and former Representative Mary Grant listen.