Ethnic group inequalities in coverage with reproductive, maternal and child health interventions: cross-sectional analyses of national surveys in 16 Latin American and Caribbean countries

Publication date: August 2018Source: The Lancet Global Health, Volume 6, Issue 8Author(s): Marilia Arndt Mesenburg, Maria Clara Restrepo-Mendez, Hugo Amigo, Alejandra D Balandrán, Maria Angelica Barbosa-Verdun, Beatriz Caicedo-Velásquez, Liliana Carvajal-Aguirre, Carlos E A Coimbra, Leonardo Z Ferreira, Maria del Pilar Flores-Quispe, Carlos Flores-Ramírez, Giovanna Gatica-Dominguez, Luis Huicho, Karla Jinesta-Campos, Ingrid S K Krishnadath, Fatima S Maia, Ivan A Marquez-Callisaya, Mercedes Marlene Martinez, Oscar J Mujica, Verónica PingraySummaryBackgroundLatin American and Caribbean populations include three main ethnic groups: indigenous people, people of African descent, and people of European descent. We investigated ethnic inequalities among these groups in population coverage with reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health interventions.MethodsWe analysed 16 standardised, nationally representative surveys carried out from 2004 to 2015 in Latin America and the Caribbean that provided information on ethnicity or a proxy indicator (household language or skin colour) and on coverage of reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health interventions. We selected four outcomes: coverage with modern contraception, antenatal care coverage (defined as four or more antenatal visits), and skilled attendants at birth for women aged 15–49 years; and coverage with three doses of diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus (DPT3) vaccine among children aged 12–23 months. We classified...
Source: The Lancet Global Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research