  There is limited evidence of health interventions impact on cognitive
function and educational outcomes. We build on two prior systematic reviews to
conduct a meta-analysis, exploring the effects of one of the most consequential
health interventions, malaria chemoprevention, on education outcomes. We pool
data from nine study treatment groups (N=4,075) and outcomes across four
countries. We find evidence of a positive effect (Cohen's d = 0.12, 95% CI
[0.08, 0.16]) on student cognitive function, achieved at low cost. These
results show that malaria chemoprevention can be highly cost effective in
improving some cognitive skills, such as sustained attention. Moreover, we
conduct simulations using a new common metric (learning-adjusted years of
development) to compare cost-effectiveness across diverse interventions. While
we might expect that traditional education interventions provide an immediate
learning gain, health interventions such as malaria prevention can have
surprisingly cost-effective education benefits, enabling children to achieve
their full human capital potential.
