The Health and Education Benefits of Universal Primary Education for the Next Generation: Evidence from Tanzania

Abstract

This research monograph explores the relationships between changing patterns of educational access for mothers and the effects of this on infant mortality and the access enjoyed by children of these mothers in Tanzania. The paper confirms that the beneficiaries of the first wave of educational reform do appear to have benefitted from lower infant and child mortality, though the evidence is suggestive that there was a lag effect such that those who were schooled several years after the reforms when there had been time for them to mature may have benefitted most. It also seems to be the case that mothers who were marginalised by lack of education saw their position worsen relative to those with more education over time. Evidence on gradients of child mortality is mixed and needs further study but at the very least is suggestive that what should have been happening – lowering of mortality with higher educational levels of mothers - has not necessarily occurred.

Citation

Sabates, R.; Westbrook, J.; Hernandez-Fernandez, J. The Health and Education Benefits of Universal Primary Education for the Next Generation: Evidence from Tanzania. In: CREATE Pathways to Access Series, Research Monograph Number 62. (2011) 1-36. ISBN 0-901881-76-7

The Health and Education Benefits of Universal Primary Education for the Next Generation: Evidence from Tanzania

Published 1 January 2011