Ethnoracial child health inequalities in Latin America: Multilevel evidence from Bolivia, Colombia, Guatemala, and Peru.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Mena-Melendez L
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7567948 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Ethnoracial child health inequalities in Latin America: Multilevel evidence from Bolivia, Colombia, Guatemala, and Peru.
SSM - population health 20201003
Using Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data for Bolivia, Colombia, Guatemala, and Peru, between 1986 and 2015, this paper explores the relationship between self-identifying as indigenous and/or afro-descendant on child under-5 mortality (<i>n=</i>20,770), stunting (<i>n</i>=15,828), wasting (<i>n</i>=15,827), and anemia (<i>n</i>=13,294). Rural-urban risk analysis suggest that indigenous and/or afro-descendent respondents have higher risk of under-5 mortality, stunting, wasting, and anemia. T ...[more]
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Project description:BackgroundFour Andean countries of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru introduced national health-focused conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs in the 2000s. This study probes whether policymakers in these countries targeted CCT programs to subregions with the highest prevalence of ill-health or those with the lowest socioeconomic status (SES) to evaluate the equity of geographic targeting and means-testing, as well as the potential role of normative frames, bounded rationality, and clientelism as explanatory mechanisms for inequities in social spending.MethodsThe distribution of vaccination coverage, underweight, stunting, and child deaths is established both within and between subnational regions and SES quintiles from 1998 to 2012 using every available nationally representative household survey. The equity of CCT program targeting and strength of association with subregional SES and health outcomes are measured using generalized entropy index decomposition and meta-regression. Finally, simple predictive models for CCT targeting are created using lagged subregional SES, health outcomes, and concentration indices.ResultsBolivia and Peru both effectively targeted at-risk subregions, but subregions in Peru with no CCT program coverage result in higher mistargeting rates for the country as a whole. Only Bolivia failed to attain CCT coverage concentration indices that are at least as large as the health inequalities they are targeting. Despite this insufficient progressivity, Bolivia has the most efficient subregional targeting, while the lowest rates of mistargeting for child deaths are found in Colombia and Ecuador. Finally, the simple predictive model performs as well or better than observed CCT coverage distribution for every country, year, and outcome.ConclusionsBoth Peru and Ecuador have targeted programs to their poorest populations effectively, demonstrating that this is possible with both universal and geographic targeting. No clear evidence of clientelism was found, while the dominant normative frame underlying CCT program targeting decisions appears to be the relative SES of subregions, rather than absolute SES, prevalence of health outcomes, or health inequalities. To reduce the inequitable impacts of bounded rationality, policymakers can use simple predictive models to target CCT coverage effectively and without leaving behind the most vulnerable populations that happen to live in more affluent subregions.
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