Background: Maternal health care Indicator Is among the key Indicators of population health, health economic development. Therefore, the study attempts to explore female education and maternal healthcare utilization in Uganda. The study identifies the causal effect of introduction of free education, by exploiting the age as an instrument at the second stage model. This instrument provides an exogenous source of variation in the years of schooling and allows to implement a regression discontinuity design, which accounts for heterogeneity in the cohort overtime. Methods: The study also uses the OLS to help predict years of schooling that are used in the second stage model in the 2SLS. The study further uses the RDD model with a running variable of birth years to observe its effect on education. To control heterogeneity in regions in the second stage model, a fixed effects model was used. Results: Female education indeed had a positive impact on maternal health care utilization. It was further found out that age also influences maternal health care utilization.Conclusions: Therefore, as an effort to improve professional maternal health care utilisation, there is need to focus on education beyond primary level. Government should also ensure that there is an improvement in community infrastructure and security across all regions and locations.

Background Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic struck Uganda, much emphasis by the policy makers and researchers were on the health effects of the pandemic at the expense of the economic effects hence creating a research gap. The cardinal aim of this study was therefore to examine the economic effects of the pandemic on the wellbeing of the market vendors in Kampala city, which was the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. The specific objectives of this study were; examining how the COVID-19 pandemic economically affected the market vendors in Kampala city, and determining if the pandemic was a demand or supply side shock. Methods the study employed the Blinder-Oaxaca (B-O) decomposition technique, which was originally used in labor economics to decompose earnings gaps and to estimate the level of discrimination. This decomposition method analyses changes in a given variable over time. Descriptive statistics such as means, frequencies, and percentages were generated to gain insights into the data. Consumption and Sales were used as proxies for demand whereas the proxy for supply was production. Results The decomposition results from the Oaxaca estimates show that consumption, sales, and production reduced after the introduction of the COVID-19 restriction. The pandemic affected the market vendors economically through reduced consumption, sales, and disruption of the supply chain. It is recommended that the government provide appropriate support in form of income support, access to low credit and building the digital capacity of market vendors. Research contribution: This study contributes to the understanding of the economic effects of the pandemic on one of the most vulnerable groups-the market vendors. JEL Codes: 1,118,131