Child malnutrition and prenatal care: evidence from three Latin American countries

Nohora Forero-Ramirez, Luis F. Gamboa, Arjun Bedi, Robert Sparrow

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticle

    Abstract

    OBJECTIVE: To examine the effect of prenatal care (PNC) on the level and distribution of child stunting in three Andean countries—Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru—where expanding access to such care has been an explicit policy intervention to tackle child malnutrition in utero and during early childhood. METHODS: An econometric analysis of cross-sectional Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data was conducted. The analysis included ordinary least-squares (OLS) regressions, estimates of concentration curves, and decompositions of a concentration index. RESULTS: The analysis shows that the use of PNC in Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru is only weakly associated with a reduction in the level of child malnutrition. CONCLUSIONS: Further expansion of PNC programs is unlikely to play a large role in reducing inequalities in malnutrition.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)163-171
    JournalRevista Panamericana de Salud Publica/Pan American Journal of Public Health
    Volume35
    Issue number3
    Publication statusPublished - 2014

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