Mira Johri|S. V. Subramanian|Georges Karna Koné|Sakshi Dudeja|Dinesh Chandra|Nanor Minoyan|Marie?Pierre Sylvestre|Smriti Pahwa
Maternal Health Literacy Is Associated with Early Childhood Nutritional Status in India
Université de Montréal|Université Jean Lorougnon Guédé|Université de Montréal|United States India Educational Foundation|Pratham|United States India Educational Foundation|Pratham|Université de Montréal|Université de Montréal|Pratham|United States India Educational Foundation
global burden child undernutrition concentrated south asia gender inequality female educational disadvantage important factors maternal health literacy linked womens education empowerment influence multiple malnutrition determinants rapidly modifiablethis study investigated whether maternal health literacy associated child undernutrition 2 resourcepoor indian populationswe conducted crosssectional surveys urban rural site interviewing 1 woman child aged 1223 mohousehold multivariate logistic regression analyses conducted independently site main exposure maternal health literacy assessed respondents ability understand appraise apply healthrelated information use indian health promotion materials main outcomes severe stunting severe underweight severe wasting classified children severe nutritional deficiency z score 3 sds reference population children age sex analyses controlled potential confounding factors including parental education household wealthrural urban analyses included 1116 657 motherchild pairs respectively site fully adjusted models showed children mothers high health literacy approximately half likelihood severely stunted rural adjusted 050 95 ci 033 074 p 0001 urban adjusted 058 95 ci 035 094 p 0028 severely underweight rural adjusted 057 95 ci 038 087 p 0009 urban adjusted 048 95 ci 025 091 p 0025 children mothers low health literacy health literacy associated severe wastingin resourcepoor rural urban settings india maternal health literacy associated child nutritional status programs targeting health literacy may offer effective entry points intervention