Working-age Adult Mortality and Primary School Attendance in Rural Kenya

This paper measures the impact of working-age adult mortality on child primary school attendance in Kenya. Kenya is one of the most heavily HIV-infected countries in the world: 13.5 percent of adults aged 15 to 49 are estimated to be living with HIV in June 2000. The paper estimates effects on boys’ and girls’ schooling separately, to understand potential gender differences resulting from adult mortality. Also examines how adult mortality potentially affects child schooling differently before as opposed to after the death occurs. The paper also estimates the importance of households’ initial asset levels in influencing the relationship between adult mortality and child school attendance