65 research outputs found

    Preschool attendance: a multilevel analysis of individual and community factors in 21 low and middle-income countries

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    This paper investigates how preschool attendance is shaped by individual and community factors for 71,806 children from 14,303 communities in 21 low-to middle-income countries using a multilevel analysis. We assess how these mechanisms vary by community and country wealth and the extent to which the variation of preschool uptake can be explained by the characteristics of children living in these communities. We find that of the total variation, 36% was attributable to communities and 12% to countries, with childrens demographic and socioeconomics characteristics explaining 23% of the between community variation. Community wealth and health are crucial determinants; in poor communities with high stunting rates, the chances of preschool attendance are at least halved. Our results suggest that the effect of community on preschool attendance is stronger in poorer countries with greater inequality between communities

    The effect of early marriage timing on women's and children's health in Sub-Saharan Africa and South West Asia

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    Background. Age of marriage is a barrier to mother’s health care around pregnancy and children health outcomes. Objective. We provide evidence on the health benefits of postponing early marriage among young wives (from age 10-14 to age 15-17) on women’s health care and children’s health for Saharan Africa (SSA) and South West Asia (SWA). Methods. We use data for 39 countries (Demographic and Health Surveys) to estimate the effects of postponing early marriage for women’s health care and children’s health outcomes and immunisation using matching techniques. We also assess if women's health empowerment and health constraints are additional barriers. Findings. We found that in SSA, delaying the age of marriage from age 10-14 to age 15-17 and from age 15-17 to age 18 or above leads to an increase of maternal neotetanus vaccinations of 2.4% and 3.2% respectively, while gains on the likelihood of postnatal checks is larger for delaying marriage among the youngest wives (age 10- 14). In SWA, the number of antenatal visits increases by 34%, while the likelihood of having a skilled birth attendant goes up to 4.1% if young wives postpone marriage. In SSA, the probability of children receiving basic vaccinations is twice as large and their neonatal mortality reduction is nearly double if their mothers had married between age 15-17 instead of at age 10-14. The extent of these benefits is also shaped by supply constraints and cultural factors. For instance, we found that weak bargaining power on health decisions for young wives leads to 11% (SWA) fewer antenatal visits and 13% less chances (SSA) of attending postnatal checks. Conclusion. Delaying age of marriage among young wives can lead to considerable gains in health care utilisation and children health in SSA and SWA if supported by policies that lessen supply constraints and raise women's health empowerment

    Factors associated with private-public school performance: analysis of TALIS-PISA link data

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    We use measures of competitive pressure, administrative autonomy and staffing practices to explain the private-public performance difference in Australia, Portugal and Spain using the TALIS-PISA dataset. We employ OLS regression and counterfactual decomposition analysis on matched sub-samples. These school factors do not explain the overall private-public performance gap in the three countries except at the higher-end of the distribution. In other words, these factors appear to benefit only the high-performers in private schools in Australia and Spain. The results point to the potential limits of adopting private school practices for improving learning across the performance distribution especially for low-performing students

    On the impact of early marriage on schooling outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa and South West Asia

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    This paper examines the effect of age of marriage on women's schooling outcomes for 36 countries from Sub-Saharan Africa and South West Asia. We employ an instrumental variable approach to account for the endogeneity of early marriage driven by socio-economic and cultural factors. Our results show that delaying early marriage by one year is associated with an increase of half a year of education in Sub-Saharan Africa and nearly one third of a year of education in South West Asia as well as a lower likelihood of dropping out from secondary school of 5.5% in South West Asia
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