USAID/LANIC:Health Indicators

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Antenatal Care, Childbirth and Children's Health

	Antenatal Care and Childbirth			Breastfeeding					Underweight Children
	Antenatal Visits	Births Attended	Low Birth Weight	Exclusive	Comple- mentary	Continued		Median Duration	% 12-23 months	% 0-59 months
	% births	% births	% births	% 0-3 mo.	% 6-9 mo.	% 12-15 mo.	% 20-23 mo.	(months)
Antigua & Barbuda	..	90	8	..	..	..	..	-	..	10
Bahamas	..	100	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..
Barbados	..	98	10	..	..	..	..	..	..	5
Belize	..	77	10	24	49	..	..	..	..	..
Cuba	..	90	8	..	..	..	..	..	..	..
Dominica	..	96	10	..	..	..	..	..	..	5
Dominican Republic	98	96	11	25	47	..	7	..	..	10
Guyana	-	90	19	..	..	..	..	..	..	18
Haiti	68	46, 21	29	3	90	81	27	17	33	28
Jamaica	..	82	10	..	..	..	..	..	..	10
St. Kitts & Nevis	..	100	9	..	..	..	..	..	..	..
St. Lucia	..	99	8	..	..	..	..	..	..	..
St. Vincent & the Grenadines	..	73	8	..	..	..	..	..	..	..
Suriname	..	91	13	..	..	..	..	..	..	..
Trinidad & Tobago	98	99	10	10	39	30	16	10	..	7
Caribbean
Costa Rica	..	93	7	35	47	..	12	2	..	..
El Salvador	..	87	11	20	71	..	28	..	..	11
Guatemala	53	35	10	50	56	75	43	20	35	27
Honduras	..	88	9	11	..	..	..	..	..	18
Nicaragua	..	61	15	11	48	..	17	..	..	12
Panama	..	86	9	32	38	..	21	..	..	7
Central America
Argentina	..	97	7	..	..	..	..	..	..	..
Bolivia	53	47	12	53	78	74	36	18	21	8
Brazil	87	89	11	40	30	33	17	7	6	6
Chile	..	98	5	77	17	..	..	..	..	1
Colombia	83	85	9	16	61	42	17	11	9	8
Ecuador	72	62	13	29	52	-	34	14	24	17
Paraguay	84	66	5	7	61	40	8	11	7	4
Peru	68	57	11	61	77	68	36	17	12	8
Uruguay	..	96	8	..	..	..	..	..	..	7
Venezuela	..	69	9	..	..	..	..	..	..	6
South America
Mexico	74	77	8	38	36	32	21	..	..	14

Sources Center for International Health Information (CIHI). Estimates in italics compiled from Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) conducted during the 1990s, with the following exceptions: estimates for Ecuador, Mexico, Trinidad & Tobago and Uruguay are compiled from DHS and nutrition surveys conducted in 1987. The estimate for underweight children in Venezuela is for 1981-1987, from M. Lopes, Contreras, Blanco, et al., "Nutritional Status of Venezuelan Childre n," 14^th International Nutrition Congress, 1989. All figures in italics come from UNICEF, The State of the Worlds Children 1998.

Definitions Antenatal visits represent the number of mothers who had one or more antenatal visits with a doctor, nurse or trained midwife, expressed as a percentage of live births. Births attended represent the pe rcentage of deliveries attended by a doctor, nurse or trained midwife. Low birth weight is the percentage of newborns who weigh less than 2,500 grams (approximately 5.6 pounds). Exclusive breastfeeding is the percentage of infants 0-3 mont hs of age, inclusive, who receive only breast milk. Complementary breastfeeding is the percentage of infants 6-9 months of age (7-9 months of age in the DR and Peru) who receive solid or semi-solid foods in addition to breast milk. Continued breastfeeding is the percentage of children 12-15 and 20-23 months of age, inclusive, that continue to be breastfed. Underweight children represent the percentage of children 12-23 and 0-59 months of age, inclusive, (3-35 months of age for Tri nidad and Tobago and Argentina), whose weight for age is more than two standard deviations below the internationally accepted norm.

Notes Prenatal and delivery care are estimates of a womans access to services as well as her belief in the utility of these services. Prenatal care increases the likelihood of a healthy childbirth. Prenatal care also serves a s an opportunity to identify those women who are more likely to experience a difficult birth. Similarly, delivery care helps to ensure the safety of both the newborn child and the mother.

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