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230 Fighting the Diseases of Povertyprotects individuals not only against getting an illness per se, butalso against the long-term effects of that illness on their physical,emotional, and cognitive development. For example, by stuntingphysical growth, childhood diseases can curtail opportunities forcarrying out manual labor during adulthood. In developing countries,where manual work is frequently the only option, physicalhandicaps are particularly damaging. Cognitive development mayalso be affected by vaccine-preventable disease. Measles, forexample, can cause brain damage or impair learning abilities, withsevere impacts on a child’s life prospects.The importance of these effects is borne out by recent workdemonstrating the link from improved health to economic growth.This research has made clear the importance of health interventionsfor achieving growth and suggests that cost-effectiveness analyses,as currently conducted, are likely to underestimate the benefits ofvaccination.There are several channels through which health improveswealth. The first is through its impact on education. Healthychildren are better able to attend school and to learn effectivelywhile in class. Studies have found that health interventions such asde-worming programs and iron supplementation reduce absenteeismfrom school (Miguel et al., 2004). Curing whipworm infection,meanwhile, has been found to lead to improved test scores(Nokes et al., 1992).The second channel is through health’s impact on productivity.Like schoolchildren, healthier workers have better attendance ratesand are more energetic and mentally robust. Workers in healthycommunities, moreover, need to take less time off to care for sick relatives.Body size, which is greatly influenced by one’s health duringchildhood, has been found to have large impacts on long-term productivity(Fogel, 1991). Bloom et al. have calculated that a one-yearincrease in life expectancy improves labor productivity by 4 per cent(Bloom et al., 1998).The third means by which health improves wealth is through itseffect on savings and investment. Healthier people expect to live