Material Health Literacy

Abstract

Health literacy is associated with the concept of general literacy, and people’s ability to develop and make judgments about health care related issues throughout their lives, to protect, maintain and improve their health, to access health-related information resources to improve quality of life, to accurately understand and appraise health-related information and messages. Research shows that people with inadequate health literacy find it difficult to comprehend health information. Maternal health literacy can be defined as cognitive and social skills that determine the motivation and ability of women to understand and use the information they can protect, sustain and improve their health. Adequate level of women’s health literacy is extremely important for the protection and promotion of both their own and their children’s health. Women with low levels of health literacy will be unable to access and understand health-related information, making it difficult for both her and her family members to make the right decisions in situations that concern their health. Considering that maternal health literacy affects not only maternal health but also child health, growth and death, necessary health policies and practices should be developed to improve maternal health literacy in order to improve maternal and child health.