Neglected Tropical Disease and Education in Tanzania

Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) are a pervasive public health challenge in many developing countries in Africa, Asia, and South America. The paper proposes to assess (i) the medium-term impact of the NTD management program on the treated children’s educational outcomes such as school attendance/primary school completion/test scores on school-leaving exams mandatory for children graduating from primary schools in the country, and (ii) the efficacy of supplementary intervention, provision of access to safe water through newly drilled wells, in controlling the risk of re-infection. Through this research we expect to be able to provide evidence for the efficacy of the NTD management program on children’s human capital investment as well as useful suggestions to more effectively address the re-infection risk challenge. The preliminary analysis of difference-in-differences estimator using the school level data finds that the NTD program in Mwanza increased the attendance rate, completion rate and passing rate of the national exam by 2.6%p, 3.2%p and 0.7%p, respectively. The results suggest that the program had a quite sizable impact on attendance and completion by school children, but that its impact on passing the national exam is limited.