The aim of the presented thesis is to examine the relationship between maternal
educational attainment and child health outcomes. The study attempts
to distinguish between child’s nutritional status and mother’s health-seeking
behaviour which is measured by child’s immunization status. Hypotheses are
tested using a probit regression model based on the Demographic and Health
Surveys data from two Sub-Saharan countries, namely Ethiopia and Kenya.
The empirical results suggest that there is a strong significant relationship between
maternal education and child’s chronic malnutrition, while the maternal
education effect attenuates after inclusion of possible channels in the regressions
explaining child’s acute malnutrition and child’s immunization status.
The education effect on the probability of having diarrhea has shown to be
insignificant. Furthermore, the effect does not differ either by the sex of the
child nor by the place of residence. Lastly, we observe that secondary education
represents the most important influence on the child health quality.