Over half of the reduction in the global mortality of children under 5 years of age is linked to increased education among females of reproductive age, says a reports from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington, published in the medical journal The Lancet. Sixteen million children under the age of five died in 1970, compared to 7.8 million in 2009, the report informs – 4.2 million fewer children died in 2009 thanks in large part to better and more widely accessible schooling for women.

The authors write that education is growing in every part of the world. The report states that:

Average years of schooling for women of reproductive age (ages 15 to 44) in developing countries have grown from 2.2 years to 7.2 years.

In some countries, however, women still receive no more than one year of schooling. Those countries include, Burkina Faso, Yemen, Niger, Chad, Mali and Afghanistan.

Dr. Emmanuela Gakidou, lead author, Associate Professor of Global Health at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), said:

We know that direct health interventions, such as immunizations, preventive care, and hygiene classes, are crucial to improving health worldwide. What this study shows is that by focusing on education as well, we can increase the impact that we are having on health.

In 87 countries in 2009, women had greater levels of education than men. In 40 nations, however, the gender gap grew during the period 1970 to 2009.

Dr. Emmanuela Gakidou and team collected data from 915 censuses and national surveys globally to create a time series of education levels for 175 nations.

They found that:

31 nations had improved average years of schooling of women of reproductive age by over three years between 1990 and 2009. Saudi Arabia, the Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates were among these countries.

Out of the ten countries with the highest populations in the world, women of reproductive age had complete at least primary school in seven of them.

Most of the countries that are on track to achieving the Millennium Development Goal 4 – reducing the child mortality rate by 66% between 1990 and 2015 – have achieved a faster improvement for average rate of schooling for women of reproductive age than the global 1.9 years over the last two decades.

According to their findings, economic growth accounted for just 7.2% of the reduction in child mortality during the 1970-2009 period.

Dr. Christopher Murray, IHME Director and one of the paper’s co-authors, said:

More education helps mothers make better choices in a range of areas – personal hygiene, nutrition, parenting approaches. It also helps them take better care of their own health when pregnant, and, after the child is born, they are able to navigate the expanding array of health services being offered to their families.

The authors believe that mothers with more education will drive advances in global health, embracing immunization programs, for example.

Dr. Rafael Lozano, Professor of Global Health at IHME:

The next phase could include building new secondary schools and hiring teachers. But before that work begins, it would be wise to weigh the potential benefits and costs of this approach against building clinics and hiring health workers.

Source: The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation

Increased educational attainment and its effect on child mortality in 175 countries between 1970 and 2009: a systematic analysis

Dr Emmanuela Gakidou PhD, Krycia Cowling BS, Prof Rafael Lozano MD, Prof Christopher JL Murray MD

The Lancet, Volume 376, Issue 9745, Pages 959 – 974, 18 September 2010

doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(10)61257-3

Written by Christian Nordqvist