Scoping review of Literacy and Health status in Iran, and their Link in local researches: Successes, Challenges, and the Way Ahead

Literacy and education levels are strongly associated with health. However, this relationship has received little attention in Iran. The aim of this scoping review is to identify local evidence for the link between health and education and accordingly providing recommedations for future health promoting interventions in Iran.

Persian and English databases and as well as organizational reports were searched from 2005 to 2021.

Literacy and health in the last half-century have witnessed significant progress in Iran. Iranian researches, similar to international evidence, confirm the link between literacy and health in Iranian studies. The results of most studies have shown that illiteracy and low literacy have a statistically significant association with lower life expectancy, higher chances of morbidity and exposure to health risk factors, as well as higher mortality for the individual and her children.

Based on the result of this study, literacy should be considered as a key risk factor for health by health managers and researchers, especially in disadvantaged states.