Maternal education, women’s access to information and childhood development: a case of Lao PDR

Abstract

The Lao People Democratic Republic (PDR), a transitional economy, and one of least developed economics in Southeast Asia region, After its opening the country and an economic pathway of its development following the semi-market economy system, the GDP of Laos during last decade growth with an average rate of 7%, which is a high rate compared to many countries in the region. In the long run, to guarantee the sustainable growth and development of the country, to raise the productivity, the need for human resource becomes one of the main focuses in the 8th Social Economic Development Plan. This paper examines the impact of maternal education and women’s access to information on probability of the outcomes of early childhood development as expectedly that the healthier children will eventually to provide higher labor productivity and guarantee the sustainable development of the country. By using the Logit regression model, the measurement of health status of children called Early Childhood Development (ECD) this fills the gaps and make it more diversity in research on the determinant of the child’s health. The result of the study shows that maternal education is confirmed to have a positive effect on children well being. Children whose his or her mother has more years of school are more likely to be properly developed. At the same time, Women access to information also found to have a positive effect with a satisfactory level of statistical significance for the likeliness that her children are properly developed. The suggestions on implication of the theoretical and the finding of the research are the scientifically advanced for the policy makers for setting up guidelines for sustainable development strategies, particularly in aspect of women and child empowerment through education and access to information.