FSE senior fellow Scott Rozelle awarded FSI Global Underdevelopment Action Fund grant to study the effects of "best buy health and nutrition toolkit" for improving educational outcomes in rural China

Studies show high levels of anemia, nearsightedness, intestinal worms, and poor health and sanitation among children in China’s rural boarding schools. This project will measure initial health and nutrition levels of students in a randomized control setting, and deploy a set of affordable and sustainable interventions in treatment schools that includes multivitamins, eyeglasses, deworming medication, and nutrition and sanitation training. The project will then assess what works and what does not by comparing improvements in academic performance in treatment and control groups. The results of this experiment are intended to inform education and nutrition policy in China at the central and provincial levels.

Co-Principal Investigators on the project include Paul H. Wise, professor of pediatrics, FSI senior fellow, and Patricia Foo, MD/PhD student, economics. The grant, one of six offered by FSI, is intended to jumpstart early-stage multidisciplinary research projects that tackle the persistent problems of global under development.