title: Impact of Universal Health Coverage on Child Growth and Nutrition in Argentina.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To estimate trends of undernutrition (stunting and underweight) among children younger than 5 years covered by the universal health coverage programs Plan Nacer and Programa Sumar.
  
  
  METHODS
  From 2005 to 2013, Plan Nacer and Programa Sumar collected high-quality information on birth and visit dates, age (in days), gender, weight (in kg), and height (in cm) for 1.4 million children in 6386 health centers (13 million records) with broad coverage of vulnerable populations in Argentina.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of stunting and underweight decreased 45.0% (from 20.6% to 11.3%) and 38.0% (from 4.0% to 2.5%), respectively, with differences between rural versus urban areas, gender, regions, age, and seasons.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Undernutrition prevalence substantially decreased in 2 programs in Argentina as a result of universal health coverage.
authors.affiliation: Pablo A. Nuñez and Oscar Daniel Salomón are with the Instituto Nacional de Medicina Tropical, Misiones and CONICET. Diego Fernández-Slezak is with the Laboratorio de Inteligencia Artificial Aplicada, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Andrés Farall is with Ecoclimasol, Buenos Aires. María Eugenia Szretter is with the Departamento de Matemáticas e Instituto del Cálculo, Universidad de Buenos Aires. Claudia R. Valeggia is with the Department of Anthropology, Yale University, New Haven, CT.
authors.forename: Pablo A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Nuñez
authors.affiliation: Pablo A. Nuñez and Oscar Daniel Salomón are with the Instituto Nacional de Medicina Tropical, Misiones and CONICET. Diego Fernández-Slezak is with the Laboratorio de Inteligencia Artificial Aplicada, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Andrés Farall is with Ecoclimasol, Buenos Aires. María Eugenia Szretter is with the Departamento de Matemáticas e Instituto del Cálculo, Universidad de Buenos Aires. Claudia R. Valeggia is with the Department of Anthropology, Yale University, New Haven, CT.
authors.forename: Diego
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fernández-Slezak
authors.affiliation: Pablo A. Nuñez and Oscar Daniel Salomón are with the Instituto Nacional de Medicina Tropical, Misiones and CONICET. Diego Fernández-Slezak is with the Laboratorio de Inteligencia Artificial Aplicada, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Andrés Farall is with Ecoclimasol, Buenos Aires. María Eugenia Szretter is with the Departamento de Matemáticas e Instituto del Cálculo, Universidad de Buenos Aires. Claudia R. Valeggia is with the Department of Anthropology, Yale University, New Haven, CT.
authors.forename: Andrés
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Farall
authors.affiliation: Pablo A. Nuñez and Oscar Daniel Salomón are with the Instituto Nacional de Medicina Tropical, Misiones and CONICET. Diego Fernández-Slezak is with the Laboratorio de Inteligencia Artificial Aplicada, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Andrés Farall is with Ecoclimasol, Buenos Aires. María Eugenia Szretter is with the Departamento de Matemáticas e Instituto del Cálculo, Universidad de Buenos Aires. Claudia R. Valeggia is with the Department of Anthropology, Yale University, New Haven, CT.
authors.forename: María Eugenia
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Szretter
authors.affiliation: Pablo A. Nuñez and Oscar Daniel Salomón are with the Instituto Nacional de Medicina Tropical, Misiones and CONICET. Diego Fernández-Slezak is with the Laboratorio de Inteligencia Artificial Aplicada, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Andrés Farall is with Ecoclimasol, Buenos Aires. María Eugenia Szretter is with the Departamento de Matemáticas e Instituto del Cálculo, Universidad de Buenos Aires. Claudia R. Valeggia is with the Department of Anthropology, Yale University, New Haven, CT.
authors.forename: Oscar Daniel
authors.initials: OD
authors.lastname: Salomón
authors.affiliation: Pablo A. Nuñez and Oscar Daniel Salomón are with the Instituto Nacional de Medicina Tropical, Misiones and CONICET. Diego Fernández-Slezak is with the Laboratorio de Inteligencia Artificial Aplicada, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Andrés Farall is with Ecoclimasol, Buenos Aires. María Eugenia Szretter is with the Departamento de Matemáticas e Instituto del Cálculo, Universidad de Buenos Aires. Claudia R. Valeggia is with the Department of Anthropology, Yale University, New Haven, CT.
authors.forename: Claudia R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Valeggia
mesh_terms: D001118:Argentina / Q000453:epidemiology; D001827:Body Height; D002657:Child Development; D015362:Child Nutrition Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006128:Growth; D006130:Growth Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D009752:Nutritional Status; D015995:Prevalence; D012424:Rural Population; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013851:Thinness / Q000453:epidemiology*; D019472:Universal Health Insurance; D014505:Urban Population; D035862:Vulnerable Populations