A mother's education has a huge effect on a child's health

By David Brown

Washington Post

It turns out that pencils and books for mothers may be as important as vaccines and drugs for babies in reducing child mortality in the developing world.

That's because a mother's education level has a huge, if indirect, effect on the health of her children. That relationship, observed in many small studies in rich countries, turns out to be true everywhere on the globe, according to a new study.