Abstract
The following thesis aims to examine the state of health and education in rural China and explore whether improving access to health improves educational outcomes and closes the gender gap. Based on very limited research from other countries, improved access to health care is expected to result in improved educational outcomes. The second main aim of this thesis is to, based on the assumption that increased access to health improves educational outcomes, examine how foreign non-governmental organization initiatives and initiatives implemented by the Chinese government improve access to health care and whether there are health and educational outcomes. To address these two aims, census data from 1999, 2010, and 2019 and secondary literature is used. While no causal relationships could be established, it was found that there is a positive correlational relationship between access to health care and educational outcomes. While the expectation was that foreign NGOs and Chinese governmental initiatives would improve health and education across the board in rural China, there were mixed results. While the gender gap in health and education did narrow, there was no way to state the direct reason behind this observation. Despite some limitations, the research findings provide a good jumping-off point for future research that could attempt to establish a causal relationship between health and education and various interventions and improving health and educational outcomes and closing the gender gap.