DOI: 10.36347/sjahss.2017.v05i08.017

Pages: 918-925

Upon her independence in 1963, Kenya set out to eradicate three endemic ills: poverty, disease and ignorance as stipulated in Sessional Paper No 10, of 1965. The three ills are closely connected with illiteracy, a characteristic often associated with women. Health illiterate women have inability to access, understand and act on health information. A recent study in Meru County, Kenya, whose main purpose was to find out the health literacy status, perceptions and challenges of the women attending Maternal Child Health Clinics was undertaken in six selected health facilities. It was expected that the results of the study would have similar implications for Meru as well as Kenyan women in general. A descriptive research design, which included both quantitative assessments of the women‟s individual health literacy performances as well as the qualitative evidence of their health literacy perceptions and challenges, was used. The Integrated Model of Health literacy by Sorensen and colleagues [1] and the Education Model by Shrestha and colleagues [2] were the basis upon which data was collected and analysed. Data was generated from ninety randomly selected women in the health facilities cited above. Three research instruments, namely Pre-test Survey questionnaire (PSQ), a health literacy-screening test (HLST) and a health literacy test (HLT) were developed and used. Results of the study indicated that although 89 per cent of the women considered themselves “literate” as measured by PSQ only 20 per cent of this sample was confirmed “health literate” as measured by HLT. The perceived benefits of health literacy cited ranged from literacy as a tool for gathering health knowledge to a safeguard against cheating and manipulation. The results of the study will immensely benefit scholars in the area of adult literacy, health personnel involved in public health and government policy makers on health promotion.