Editing Literacy (section)

=== Health impacts ===
Print illiteracy generally corresponds with less knowledge about modern health, hygiene, and nutritional practices, and a lack of knowledge can exacerbate a range of health issues.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Puchner |first=Laurel D. |date=1 July 1995 |title=Literacy links: Issues in the relationship between early childhood development, health, women, families, and literacy |journal=International Journal of Educational Development |volume=15 |issue=3 |pages=307–319 |doi=10.1016/0738-0593(94)00041-M}}</ref> Within developing countries in particular, literacy rates also have implications for [[child mortality]]; in these contexts, children of literate mothers are 50% more likely to live past age 5 than children of illiterate mothers.<ref name="World-Literacy-Foundation-2015">{{Cite web |date=24 August 2015 |title=The Economic and Social Cost of Illiteracy: A Snapshot of Illiteracy in a Global Context |url=https://worldliteracyfoundation.org//wp-content/uploads/2015/02/WLF-FINAL-ECONOMIC-REPORT.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160421083037/http://worldliteracyfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/WLF-FINAL-ECONOMIC-REPORT.pdf |archive-date=21 April 2016 |access-date=2 May 2016 |publisher=World Literacy Foundation}}</ref> Therefore, public health research has increasingly focused on the potential for literacy skills to allow women to more successfully access healthcare and thereby facilitate gains in child health.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=LeVine |first1=Robert A. |last2=Rowe |first2=Meredith L. |year=2009 |title=Maternal Literacy and Child Health in Less-Developed Countries: Evidence, Processes, and Limitations |url=http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:13041198 |journal=Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics |volume=30 |issue=4 |pages=340–349 |doi=10.1097/dbp.0b013e3181b0eeff |pmid=19672161 |s2cid=21609263}}</ref>

A 2014 descriptive research survey project correlates literacy levels with the socioeconomic status of women in [[Oyo State]], Nigeria. The study shows that developing literacy in the region will bring "economic empowerment and will encourage rural women to practice hygiene, which will in turn lead to the reduction of birth and death rates."<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Okoji |first1=O. F. |last2=Ladeji |first2=O. O. |year=2014 |title=Influence of Adult Literacy Education on Socio-Economic Empowerment of Rural Women in Oyo State, Nigeria |journal=Gender & Behaviour |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=6016–6026}}</ref>