Intrroduction: The World Health Organization is focused on enhancing health literacy (HL) throughout the life-course to address the growing burden of Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) globally. The recent research have shown that there is a strong link between maternal health and NCDs. Pregnancy and early motherhood offer a window of opportunity to address NCDs risk earlier in the life-course. Empowering women through HL may help to reduce the intergenerational impact of NCDs.

Methods: A scoping review of the international literature was conducted to identify HL interventions that focused on improving NCD related health outcomes or health behaviors of pregnant women and/or mothers with young children. The search was conducted on four electronic databases (MEDLINE complete, CINAHL complete, EMBASE via Ovid and ERIC.

Results and Discussion: The search retrieved 5019 articles. After full text screening, 25 studies met the inclusion criteria. No study acknowledged their intervention as a HL intervention, even though they were assessed as targeting various HL dimensions. Only one study measured the HL of mothers. The review suggest that HL interventions are being underutilized and highlights the need to create awareness about the importance of addressing HL of pregnant women and mothers using appropriate tools to understand HL strengths and limitations in achieving healthy lifestyle practices. This can help to co-design locally responsive solutions which may enable women to make informed healthier lifestyle choices for themselves and for their children and thus may accelerate prevention NCDs globally.