Mothers’ education and the effectiveness of nutrition programmes: Evidence from a matched cross-sectional study in rural Bangladesh

Abstract

BRAC Bangladesh trains community health workers to communicate about nutrition in its Maternal, Newborn and Child Health programme. We estimate the programme’s impact on nutrition outcomes among rural Bangladeshi children of two years and younger. We find positive effects on dietary diversity, and show that the programme reduces stunting with 7 percentage points using data from 1600 households in 40 beneficiary mouzas and 40 comparison mouzas. We find larger effects for households where primary caregivers have finished primary school. We did not find effects on wasting, which in contrast to stunting is higher among children with primary caregivers without education.