Increased maternal education linked with lower under-five deaths: Study

Increase in maternal education in India is associated with reduction in preventable deaths in children under the age of five, according to a study.

The research, published in the journal Health & Place, is the first to explore the relationship between maternal education and children's health in the rural-urban context in India.

"Understanding how education affects under-five mortality is crucial for understanding future population dynamics in developing countries," said study corrosponding author, Samir K.C from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Austria.

The researchers analysed five rounds of the Indian National Family Health Survey (NFHS I-V) conducted between 1992 to 1993, and 2019 to 2021.

The under-five mortality rate was calculated using data from a questionnaire, which collected detailed information about birth history data among women, especially the date of birth and survival status of each live birth, and the age at death of each deceased .