Desigualdades sociais no acesso ao pré-natal: antes e durante a pandemia da COVID-19.

Abstract

The present dissertation study investigated social inequalities in access to prenatal care before and during the Covid-19 pandemic. The aim was to analyze the magnitude of social inequalities based on race/ethnicity, educational level, and generation/age concerning the adequacy of prenatal care in Brazil between 2014 and 2021. To achieve this goal, statistical software tools RStudio and Stata (versions 12 and 16) were used to extract and analyze aggregate data from SINASC (Brazilian Live Birth Information System). The calculation of the Fraction Attributable to Inequalities was applied. The results revealed that pregnant adolescents with 0 to 3 years of education, indigenous women, and Black women had the highest rate of prenatal inadequacy attributable to social inequalities. Remarkably, researchers did not observe a reduction in inadequacy rates during the pandemic period. In addition, the analysis indicated an increase in disparities during government transition periods in 2016/2017 and 2018/2019. This study contributes to the existing literature on social inequalities in prenatal care during the Covid-19 pandemic. Given its ecological and observational nature, further research is necessary to understand the relationship between social inequalities and their implications for prenatal care.