Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 8, 2025

Breakfast Habits among Schoolchildren in the City of Uruguaiana, Brazil
06:48

Breakfast Habits among Schoolchildren in the City of Uruguaiana, Brazil

Published on: July 29, 2020

4.5K

The intergenerational effect of tuition-free lower-secondary education on children's nutritional outcomes in Africa

Alfredo Martin1, Aleta Sprague1, Amy Raub1

  • 1WORLD Policy Analysis Center, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

Global Public Health
|December 20, 2023
PubMed

Insights

Providing free secondary education significantly reduces child wasting, an effect not seen with free primary education alone. This policy offers long-term intergenerational benefits for child nutrition.

Area of Science:

  • Public Health
  • Development Economics
  • Education Policy

Background:

  • Severe wasting causes 20% of under-5 deaths, leading to lifelong cognitive and health issues.
  • Global initiatives aim to combat child undernutrition, aligning with the Millennium Development Goals.
  • Intergenerational impacts of educational policies on child health are critical for sustainable development.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the intergenerational effect of free secondary education on child nutrition.
  • To quantify the additional impact of free secondary education compared to free primary education.
  • To assess the long-term benefits of educational policies on reducing child malnutrition.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized a novel longitudinal dataset (1990-2019) covering educational policies in 40 African countries.
  • Integrated data with Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) for comprehensive analysis.
  • Employed a difference-in-difference approach to estimate the causal impact of free secondary education.

Main Results:

  • Free secondary education significantly reduced child wasting by 18% in exposed cohorts.
  • Cohorts exposed only to free primary education showed a smaller, non-significant reduction in wasting.
  • The findings demonstrate a clear, statistically significant intergenerational benefit of secondary schooling.

Conclusions:

  • Expanding access to free secondary education is an effective strategy for improving child nutrition.
  • Educational policies have profound, long-term intergenerational impacts on health outcomes.
  • Investing in secondary education yields substantial public health returns by reducing malnutrition.

Keywords:
AfricaSecondary educationchildren’s nutritionfree tuition

More Related Videos

Author Spotlight: Studying the Impact of Maternal Dietary Deficiencies on Long-Term Offspring Health Outcomes03:19

Author Spotlight: Studying the Impact of Maternal Dietary Deficiencies on Long-Term Offspring Health Outcomes

Published on: June 28, 2024

438
Determining Gender-Based Differences in Retinal and Choroidal Thickness in Underweight Individuals via Swept-Source Optical Coherence Tomography03:35

Determining Gender-Based Differences in Retinal and Choroidal Thickness in Underweight Individuals via Swept-Source Optical Coherence Tomography

Published on: December 1, 2023

300

Related Concept Videos

Environmental Influences on Intelligence01:29

Environmental Influences on Intelligence

Despite the strong genetic influence on traits like intelligence, environmental factors significantly shape outcomes. For example, while over 90% of height variation is due to genetic differences, environmental factors such as nutrition also have a notable impact. Similarly, for intelligence, changes in a child's surroundings can significantly alter their IQ. Research shows that enriched environments boost children's academic success and help them develop key cognitive skills. Children...
296
Nature and Nurture01:10

Nature and Nurture

Many human characteristics, like height, are shaped by both nature—in other words, by our genes—and by nurture, or our environment. For example, chronic stress during childhood inhibits the production of growth hormones and consequently reduces bone growth and height. Scientists estimate that 70-90% of variation in height is due to genetic differences among individuals, and 10-30% of variation in height is due to differences in the environments that individuals experience,...
20.5K
Cross-Sectional Research01:50

Cross-Sectional Research

In cross-sectional research, a researcher compares multiple segments of the population at the same time. If they were interested in people's dietary habits, the researcher might directly compare different groups of people by age. Instead of following a group of people for 20 years to see how their dietary habits changed from decade to decade, the researcher would study a group of 20-year-old individuals and compare them to a group of 30-year-old individuals and a group of 40-year-old...
11.3K
Gene-Environment Interactions01:20

Gene-Environment Interactions

Gene expression is a dynamic process that is significantly influenced by environmental factors. This interaction underlies the complex nature of biological development and the phenotypic differences observed among individuals, even among those with identical genetic makeups. Factors such as radiation, temperature, behavior, nutrition, and stress play pivotal roles in determining how genes are expressed. The concept of the reaction range is central to understanding this interaction. It posits...
320
Regression Toward the Mean01:52

Regression Toward the Mean

Regression toward the mean (“RTM”) is a phenomenon in which extremely high or low values—for example, and individual’s blood pressure at a particular moment—appear closer to a group’s average upon remeasuring. Although this statistical peculiarity is the result of random error and chance, it has been problematic across various medical, scientific, financial and psychological applications. In particular, RTM, if not taken into account, can interfere when...
6.3K
Biological Influences on Intelligence01:30

Biological Influences on Intelligence

Intelligence is often thought to be linked to brain size, but the relationship is more complex than that. While brain size does correlate modestly with some abilities, like verbal skills, the connection is weaker for others, such as spatial reasoning. Other factors, like brain structure, also play crucial roles. For instance, despite Einstein's smaller-than-average brain, his parietal cortex, which is involved in spatial reasoning, was 15% wider, suggesting that neural density might matter...
109