TY - JOUR
T1 - Desigualdades socioeconômicas na baixa estatura infantil
T2 - A experiência brasileira, 1974-2007
AU - Monteiro, Carlos Augusto
AU - Benicio, Maria Helena D Aquino
AU - Conde, Wolney Lisboa
AU - Konno, Silvia Cristina
AU - De Lima, Ana Lucia Lovadino
AU - De Barros, Aluísio Jardim Dornellas
AU - Victora, Cesar Gomes
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - The paper aims to assess trends in the prevalence and social distribution of child stunting in Brazil to evaluate the effect of income and basic service redistribution policies implemented in that country in the recent past. The prevalence of stunting (height-for-age z score below -2 using the Child Growth Standards of the World Health Organization) among children aged less than five years was estimated from data collected during national household surveys carried out in Brazil in 1974-1975 (n = 34,409), 1989 (n = 7,374), 1996 (n = 4,149) and 2006-07 (n = 4,414). Absolute and relative socioeconomic inequality in stunting was measured by means of the slope index and the concentration index of inequality, respectively. Over a 33-year period, we documented a steady decline in the national prevalence of stunting from 37.1% to 7.1%. Prevalence dropped from 59.0% to 11.2% in the poorest quintile and from 12.1% to 3.3% among the wealthiest quintile. The decline was particularly steep in the last ten years of the period (1996 to 2007), when the gaps between poor and wealthy families with children under five were also reduced in terms of purchasing power; access to education, health care and water and sanitation services; and reproductive health indicators. In Brazil, socioeconomic development coupled with equity-oriented public policies have been accompanied by marked improvements in living conditions and a substantial decline in child undernutrition, as well as a reduction of the gap in nutritional status between children in the highest and lowest socioeconomic quintiles. Future studies will show whether these gains will be maintained under the current global economic crisis.
AB - The paper aims to assess trends in the prevalence and social distribution of child stunting in Brazil to evaluate the effect of income and basic service redistribution policies implemented in that country in the recent past. The prevalence of stunting (height-for-age z score below -2 using the Child Growth Standards of the World Health Organization) among children aged less than five years was estimated from data collected during national household surveys carried out in Brazil in 1974-1975 (n = 34,409), 1989 (n = 7,374), 1996 (n = 4,149) and 2006-07 (n = 4,414). Absolute and relative socioeconomic inequality in stunting was measured by means of the slope index and the concentration index of inequality, respectively. Over a 33-year period, we documented a steady decline in the national prevalence of stunting from 37.1% to 7.1%. Prevalence dropped from 59.0% to 11.2% in the poorest quintile and from 12.1% to 3.3% among the wealthiest quintile. The decline was particularly steep in the last ten years of the period (1996 to 2007), when the gaps between poor and wealthy families with children under five were also reduced in terms of purchasing power; access to education, health care and water and sanitation services; and reproductive health indicators. In Brazil, socioeconomic development coupled with equity-oriented public policies have been accompanied by marked improvements in living conditions and a substantial decline in child undernutrition, as well as a reduction of the gap in nutritional status between children in the highest and lowest socioeconomic quintiles. Future studies will show whether these gains will be maintained under the current global economic crisis.
KW - Brazil
KW - Child
KW - Malnutrition
KW - Socioeconomic inequalities
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84883578709&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1590/S0103-40142013000200004
DO - 10.1590/S0103-40142013000200004
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84883578709
SN - 0103-4014
VL - 27
SP - 38
EP - 49
JO - Estudos Avancados
JF - Estudos Avancados
IS - 78
ER -