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

• Main Authors: Nohora Forero-Ramirez, Luis F. Gamboa, Arjun Bedi, Robert Sparrow
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English; Spanish; Portuguese
• Published: Pan American Health Organization 2014
• Subjects: Trastornos de la nutrición del niño; atención prenatal; desigualdades en la salud; estatura por edad; América Latina; Medicine; R; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doaj.org/article/63494b629a8547d480b640329a8c6894

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.