Strategies Educated Mothers Use to Ensure the Health of Their Children

Mothers attending the out-patients in a programme of primary health care in rural west Bengal were interviewed for obtaining personal, socio-economic, and health data. Anthropometric measurements were made on them and their accompanying children. Sixty-five of the mothers were educated (defined as primary level and above of education) and 136 were not. The uneducated group had experienced a greater rate of child loss at 130 per 1000 births compared to 58 per 1000 births in the educated group. They were shorter (mean height 1.487 +/- 0.0475 m) compared to the educated group (mean height 1.507 +/- 0.051 m; P less than 0.01). Their children had a higher proportion of growth deficiencies, significant for height-for-age (P less than 0.001). These differences persisted after controlling for socio-economic status. The strategies used by the educated mothers were significantly more appropriate than those of their non-educated counterparts with regard to pregnancy and childbirth, diarrhoea, immunization, family planning, and source of treatment in illness. The educated women also benefited more from the primary health care programme.