Reducing child undernutrition : which parent’s education matters most? - policy brief

Reducing child undernutrition is a global development goal. To move towards this goal, a better understanding of the determinants of adverse nutritional outcomes such as stunted growth or being underweight is helpful. Traditionally, research in this area has emphasized the role of maternal education as a means to improve child health and, in particular, to reduce undernutrition, at the expense of neglecting the role of fathers. In an article published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, Vollmer et al. (2016) systematically compare the role of maternal and paternal schooling in order to identify the differences between the two

The association of parental education with childhood undernutrition in low- and middle-income countries: Comparing the role of paternal and maternal education

Background: Most existing research on the association of parental education with childhood undernutrition focuses on maternal education and often ignores paternal education. We systematically investigate differences in maternal and paternal education and their association with childhood undernutrition. Methods: One hundred and eighty Demographic and Health Surveys from 62 countries performed between 1990 and 2014 were analysed. We used linear-probability models to predict childhood undernutrition prevalences, measured as stunting, underweight and wasting, for all combinations of maternal and paternal attainment in school. Models were adjusted for demographic and socio-economic covariates for the child, mother and household, country-level fixed effects and clustering. Additional specifications adjust for local area characteristics instead of country fixed effects. Results: Both higher maternal and paternal education levels are associated with lower childhood undernutrition. In regressions adjusted for child age and sex as well as country-level fixed effects, the association is stronger for maternal education than for paternal education when their combined level of education is held constant. In the fully adjusted models, the observed differences in predicted undernutrition prevalences are strongly attenuated, suggesting a similar importance of maternal and paternal education. These findings are confirmed by the analysis of composite schooling indicators. Conclusions: We find that paternal education is similarly important for reducing childhood undernutrition as maternal education and should therefore receive increased attention in the literature.ISSN:0300-5771ISSN:1464-368

Einstellung der Schüler/innen zum Fach und zum Lernen: Freude am Fach, fachbezogenes Selbstkonzept und ihr Zusammenhang mit den fachlichen Leistungen

Fachbezogene Einstellungen spielen in Schule und Unterricht eine wichtige Rolle: Sie sind einerseits wesentliche Faktoren für das Lernen. Andererseits sind Interesse am Lernen und am Fach sowie die Entwicklung eines positiven Selbstkonzepts aber auch für sich Ziele der Schule. Dieses Kapitel untersucht die Freude an Mathematik, Deutsch und Englisch sowie das auf diese Fächer bezogene Selbstkonzept der Schüler/innen. Dabei werden diese Merkmale zwischen den Fächern, zwischen der 4. und der 8. Schulstufe sowie zwischen unterschiedlichen Gruppen von Schülerinnen und Schülern – etwa nach Geschlecht, Migrationshintergrund oder besuchter Schulsparte – verglichen. Den Abschluss bilden Analysen zum Zusammenhang zwischen nonkognitiven Faktoren des Lernens und dem Kompetenzniveau der Schüler/innen. (DIPF/Orig.

Global economic burden of diabetes in adults:Projections from 2015 to 2030

OBJECTIVE Despite the importance of diabetes for global health, the future economic consequences of the disease remain opaque. We forecast the full global costs of diabetes in adults through the year 2030 and predict the economic consequences of diabetes if global targets under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and World Health Organization Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases 2013–2020 are met. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We modeled the absolute and gross domestic product (GDP)-relative economic burden of diabetes in individuals aged 20–79 years using epidemiological and demographic data, as well as recent GDP forecasts for 180 countries. We assumed three scenarios: prevalence and mortality 1) increased only with urbanization and population aging (baseline scenario), 2) increased in line with previous trends (past trends scenario), and 3) achieved global targets (target scenario). RESULTS The absolute global economic burden will increase from U.S. $1.3 trillion (95$2.2 trillion (2.2–2.3) in the baseline, $2.5 trillion (2.4–2.6) in the past trends, and$2.1 trillion (2.1–2.2) in the target scenarios by 2030. This translates to an increase in costs as a share of global GDP from 1.8% (1.7–1.9) in 2015 to a maximum of 2.2% (2.1–2.2). CONCLUSIONS The global costs of diabetes and its consequences are large and will substantially increase by 2030. Even if countries meet international targets, the global economic burden will not decrease. Policy makers need to take urgent action to prepare health and social security systems to mitigate the effects of diabetes. </jats:sec