Health Literacy Disparities about Hepatitis B: A National Assessment in Iran

Background and Aims: Worldwide, about 350 million people are infected with Hepatitis B virus (HBV), most of them in Asia. Up to 1 million of them die due to these sequels annually. Few studies have expressed concern about HBV awareness of Iranians young people. As health education programs should be based on awareness of target group about the disease, we conducted a national survey to evaluate health literacy and vaccination status of Iranians young people regarding HBV. The purpose of our study was to find Iranian adolescents’ health literacy deficit hepatitis B (HBV) and associated factors. Materials and Methods: We conducted a questionnaire-based national survey of 18-year-old adolescents according to stratified cluster random sampling in Iran during 2007. Results: Assuming 75% as the appropriate awareness, only 21.3% of adolescents had good literacy about hepatitis B. Lower levels of education, living in urban areas, celibacy and male gender were associated with lower health literacy. The health literacy of HBV infected people about major routes of HBV transmission was low (P < 0.001). Conclusion: There are important deficits in adolescents’ health literacy about HBV. We should focus on implementing educational campaigns about HBV through media for the Iranian community.