Inadequacy of Health Literacy is Influential in Unwanted Pregnancies

 The Head of the Department of Health Education stated that 20 percent of all pregnancies in Iran are unwanted, and inadequacy of health literacy is influential in this regard.

According to WEBDA, in the first National Conference on Health Literacy hosted by Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Dr. Davoud Shojaeezadeh added that the rate of unwanted pregnancy in Iran was about 44% in the past decades. This rate has decreased considerably with the improvement of education.

Professor of Tehran University of Medical Sciences pointed out that married couples’ lack of knowledge of proper methods of contraception as well as taking contraceptive pills play an important role in unwanted pregnancies in a society.

According to him, the rate of unwanted pregnancy in a country like China is about 8%.

Stating that individual and systemic factors play an important role in promoting health literacy, he added that the high rate of unwanted pregnancy in Iran is the result of negligence on the part of educational channels in promoting health literacy.

According to him, communication skills are among the most important problems regarding health literacy promotion in the country.

Dr. Shojaeezadeh stated that inadequate level of health literacy in the society influences the health status in a society. Elderly people, low-income people, illiterate people, people with low mental health, and people with chronic diseases are at greater risk due to the lack of health literacy.

Iran’s Head of Department of Health Education added that people with low level of health literacy are less likely to enjoy health information and put less effort into obtaining health information.

Dr. Shojaeezadeh added that involvement of people with low level of health, considering cultural and demographic issues, congruence between health information and related services, education on health literacy from basic levels, development of fundamental researches, evaluation of participation, and designing health website are among the methods of improving health literacy in the country.

Stating that health literacy promotion is not only the duty of Ministry of Health and Medical Education, he added that providing education on health literacy from basic levels and using the capabilities of 18 million students in the country play an important role in the institutionalization of health literacy promotion from childhood.

It is worth mentioning that the National Conference on Health Literacy attended by over 300 managers and experts from different educational departments of the Ministry of Health from all over the country is being held from April 5^th to April 7^th 2016 hosted by Mashhad University of Medical Sciences.