On the Quality of Health Care and Educational Outcomes in a Developing Country

Marianne Simonsen, University of Aarhus
Flora Kessy, Economic and Social Research Foundation

This paper investigates early childhood human capital investment in a developing country. We consider the effect of quality of health care prior to school enrollment on subsequent educational outcomes using a high quality randomized survey from the Kagera region in Tanzania. Special focus is given to interactions between quality of health care and household specific shocks such as an adult death within the household. Our initial results indicate a positive relation between access to immunization within the community and health outcomes measured by the body mass index. Furthermore, we find that height significantly affects the probability of attending primary school.