The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between maternal
education and pre-school child morbidity in Kanchanaburi 2000. Maternal education was
categorized in three levels (1) formal education (2) receiving health knowledge from the mass
media (3) membership of community development group. The unit of analysis of this study
was pre-school children whose ages were 0 to 6 years old. They were divided into three
groups by physical development: infant, toddler, and child at pre-school age. Multinomial
Logistic Regression was used to examine the effect of maternal education on pre-school child
morbidity when controlled by maternal factors, child factors, household nutrition, and
community factors.
The overall study found that in the group who had received maternal
education only though formal education, child morbidity was adversely affected. Considering
the probability of sickness of pre-school children, infants and children of pre-school age of
mothers with formal education only were more likely to be sick with a communicable disease
than a non-communicable disease. The same applied to these mothers toddlers were.
This study demonstrates a correlation between maternal education and preschool
child morbidity. Education is an essential determinant factor on child health, thus
investment in women’s education is important for lowering infant and child morbidity and
mortality and child health.
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