Female Education Reduces Infant and Childhood Deaths

Smarter maternal decisions prevent leading causes of mortality

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The single biggest factor, by far, in reducing the rate of death among children younger than five is greater education for women. In all countries worldwide, whether females increase schooling from 10 years to 11, say, or two years to three, infant mortality declines, according to a recent study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.

Women with more education tend to have smaller families, in part because of increased employment opportunities and better knowledge about contraception; fewer children in a family improves the chances that an infant will survive. More education also helps women make better decisions about many health and disease factors such as prenatal care, basic hygiene, nutrition and immunization—which are vital to reducing the leading causes of death in children under five, shown below.

— Mark Fischetti

Cause of death	Percent of deaths
Neonatal*	41
Other	16
Diarrhea	14
Pneumonia	14
Malaria	8
Injuries	3
HIV/AIDS	2
Measles	1

*Preterm birth complications (12 percent), birth asphyxia (9 percent), sepsis (6 percent), other (5 percent), pneumonia (4 percent), congenital (3 percent), diarrhea (1 percent), tetanus (1 percent)

Source (data): World Health Organization, UNICEF

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