title: Child malnutrition and prenatal care: evidence from three Latin American countries.
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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, Universidad del Rosario, Bogotá, Colombia.
authors.forename: Nohora
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Forero-Ramirez
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, Universidad del Rosario, Bogotá, Colombia.
authors.forename: Luis F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Gamboa
authors.affiliation: International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Hague, Netherlands, bedi@iss.nl.
authors.forename: Arjun
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bedi
authors.affiliation: Arndt-Corden Department of Economics, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sparrow
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001838:Bolivia / Q000453:epidemiology; D015362:Child Nutrition Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003105:Colombia / Q000453:epidemiology; D005183:Failure to Thrive / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D010568:Peru / Q000453:epidemiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011295:Prenatal Care / Q000592:standards*; D015995:Prevalence