The policy brief estimates the additional cases of school repetitions and dropouts that can be directly
associated to a child’s stunting, an indicator of chronic malnutrition, before the age of five years,
along with the associated cost to the Lao economy. Estimates of malnutrition’s impacts on education
are based on the concept of the relative (or differential) risk experienced by individuals who suffer
from stunting before the age of five as compared to a healthy child.