OBJECTIVES:

Estimate the impact of mother schooling on rural-urban child chronic malnutrition from Pakistan.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

The data on all education based pathways, such as socio-demographic and behavioral, were taken from Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey 2012-13 dataset. The data on all infants aged 0-59 months, whose height and weight were measured at the survey time, were selected for empirical analysis. Analyses with binary logistic regression model were used to determine the effect of mother formal schooling on rural-urban infant stunting after controlling for other factors deeply linked to her schooling.

RESULTS:

Empirical results showed that urban mothers having primary and secondary/higher education have less likelihood of stunting for their infants than rural mothers relative to illiterate mothers, implying that illiterate mothers have more stunted kids. Male household head and poor economic rank have more likelihood of stunting in both locations, relative to female household head and rich households. Among explanatory variables, maternal schooling, health seeking attitude, socioeconomic rank, empowerment, and child weight are highly significant predictors of stunting in rural-urban Pakistan. Despite of earlier significant outcomes, targeted interventions are important aiming at mothers having no education.

CONCLUSION:

Female education, along with various other pathways (her socioeconomic, empowerment and heal seeking thought), has reduced chronic malnutrition and has been a guarantee of better living standard, still targeted interventions are important aiming at mothers having no education by specifying a big share of federal and regional budget on female education.