Measuring Infant Feeding Health Literacy: A Gap Analysis between Communication Policy and Practice

Health literacy is often associated with health outcomes as people with higher health literacy are found to have better health conditions. Past researchers conclude that people with higher health literacy have greater control over the means of their health determinants resulting in better health decisions. Therefore, it is imperative to understand whether government health communication policies are impacting the health literacy levels of its citizens. Moreover, communication plays a vital role in translating policies into practice. However, sub-optimal Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) practices among rural mothers suggest gaps in the current communication strategies. Therefore, this study is objectivized to analyze the current IYCF communication policies for the rural mothers of Gaya, India. For this purpose, an analysis of the IYCF communication policies followed by observation of the key phenomenon, interviews with relevant stakeholders and focus group discussions with the rural mothers were carried out to identify the barriers in the current communication strategies. The study also tried to assess the impact of IYCF communication policies on rural mothers by unveiling their current level of IYCF health literacy.