IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/poprpr/v43y2024i2d10.1007_s11113-023-09854-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Giving Birth While Facing Death: Cesarean Sections and Community Violence in Latin America

Author

Listed:
  • Signe Svallfors

    (Stanford University)

Abstract

Armed conflict and organized crime are known to be linked to numerous negative maternal and neonatal health outcomes, such as stillbirth, low birth weight, and neonatal mortality. This study investigates how exposure to lethal community violence during pregnancy correlates with Cesarean births in Latin America, a region characterized by high rates of both C-sections and violence. The analysis combines micro-level survey data, covering 123,503 births, with subnational homicide statistics from Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, and Mexico. Region-fixed effects linear probability models were used to eliminate geographically varying omitted factors that could potentially confound exposure to violence and health conditions. The findings suggest that the high rates of C-sections in Latin America can partially be attributed to the high levels of violence, due to an increase in both medically unnecessary and emergency procedures. The relationship between exposure to community violence and C-section delivery varied by country, women’s socio-demographic characteristics, and the number of antenatal care visits. Exposure to violence during all trimesters correlated with the uptake of C-sections, indicating that violence negatively affects maternal and child health throughout pregnancy. This study enriches our understanding of the social determinants of maternal and child health. The findings can serve to inform comprehensive interventions aimed at reducing excess C-section rates and improving the health of women and newborns in areas affected by violence.

Suggested Citation

  • Signe Svallfors, 2024. "Giving Birth While Facing Death: Cesarean Sections and Community Violence in Latin America," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 43(2), pages 1-22, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:poprpr:v:43:y:2024:i:2:d:10.1007_s11113-023-09854-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s11113-023-09854-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11113-023-09854-3
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11113-023-09854-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chie Hanaoka & Hitoshi Shigeoka & Yasutora Watanabe, 2018. "Do Risk Preferences Change? Evidence from the Great East Japan Earthquake," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 10(2), pages 298-330, April.
    2. Gudrun Østby & Henrik Urdal & Andreas Forø Tollefsen & Andreas Kotsadam & Ragnhild Belbo & Christin Ormhaug, 2018. "Organized Violence and Institutional Child Delivery: Micro-Level Evidence From Sub-Saharan Africa, 1989–2014," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(4), pages 1295-1316, August.
    3. Signe Svallfors, 2022. "Contraceptive choice as risk reduction? The relevance of local violence for women’s uptake of sterilization in Colombia," Population Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 76(3), pages 407-426, September.
    4. Foureaux Koppensteiner, Martin & Manacorda, Marco, 2016. "Violence and birth outcomes: Evidence from homicides in Brazil," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 16-33.
    5. Mansour, Hani & Rees, Daniel I., 2012. "Armed conflict and birth weight: Evidence from the al-Aqsa Intifada," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(1), pages 190-199.
    6. Litorp, Helena & Mgaya, Andrew & Mbekenga, Columba K. & Kidanto, Hussein L. & Johnsdotter, Sara & Essén, Birgitta, 2015. "Fear, blame and transparency: Obstetric caregivers' rationales for high caesarean section rates in a low-resource setting," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 232-240.
    7. Kotsadam, Andreas & Østby, Gudrun, 2019. "Armed conflict and maternal mortality: A micro-level analysis of sub-Saharan Africa, 1989–2013," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).
    8. Florencia Torche, 2011. "The Effect of Maternal Stress on Birth Outcomes: Exploiting a Natural Experiment," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 48(4), pages 1473-1491, November.
    9. Quintana-Domeque, Climent & Ródenas-Serrano, Pedro, 2017. "The hidden costs of terrorism: The effects on health at birth," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 47-60.
    10. Leone, Tiziana & Padmadas, Sabu S. & Matthews, Zoë, 2008. "Community factors affecting rising caesarean section rates in developing countries: An analysis of six countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(8), pages 1236-1246, October.
    11. Ryan Brown, 2018. "The Mexican Drug War and Early-Life Health: The Impact of Violent Crime on Birth Outcomes," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(1), pages 319-340, February.
    12. Adriana Camacho, 2008. "Stress and Birth Weight: Evidence from Terrorist Attacks," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(2), pages 511-515, May.
    13. Valente, Christine, 2015. "Civil conflict, gender-specific fetal loss, and selection: A new test of the Trivers–Willard hypothesis," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 31-50.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lautharte, Ildo, 2021. "Babies and Bandidos: Birth outcomes in pacified favelas of Rio de Janeiro," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    2. Fredah Guantai & Yoko Kijima, 2020. "Ethnic Violence and Birth Outcomes: Evidence From Exposure to the 1992 Conflict in Kenya," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(2), pages 423-444, April.
    3. Cortes, Darwin & Gómez, Catalina & Posso, Christian & Suarez, Gabriel, 2023. "Hunting Militias at All Cost: Urban Military Operation and Birth Outcomes," Documentos de Trabajo 20935, Universidad del Rosario.
    4. Michelle L. O’Brien, 2021. "The Consequences of the Tajikistani Civil War for Abortion and Miscarriage," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 40(5), pages 1061-1084, October.
    5. Shirlee Lichtman-Sadot & Neta Benshalom-Tirosh & Eyal Sheiner, 2020. "Conflict, Rockets, and Birth Outcomes: Evidence from Israel’s Operation Protective Edge," Working Papers 2009, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Department of Economics.
    6. Grossman, Daniel & Khalil, Umair & Ray, Arijit, 2019. "Terrorism and early childhood health outcomes: Evidence from Pakistan," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 237(C), pages 1-1.
    7. Takahiro Tsujimoto & Yoko Kijima, 2020. "Effects of conflict on child health: Evidence from the 1990–1994 Northern Mali Conflict," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(11), pages 1456-1474, November.
    8. Lin, Chung-Liang, 2021. "Postpartum medical utilization: The role of prenatal economic activity and living costs," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    9. Álvarez-Aranda, Rocío & Chirkova, Serafima & Romero, José Gabriel, 2020. "Growing in the womb: The effect of seismic activity on fetal growth," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 36(C).
    10. Lichtman-Sadot, Shirlee & Benshalom-Tirosh, Neta & Sheiner, Eyal, 2020. "Conflict, Rockets, and Birth Outcomes: Evidence from Israel's Operation Protective Edge," IZA Discussion Papers 13394, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Dagnelie, Olivier & Luca, Giacomo Davide De & Maystadt, Jean-François, 2018. "Violence, selection and infant mortality in Congo," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 153-177.
    12. Berthelon, Matias & Kruger, Diana & Sanchez, Rafael, 2021. "Maternal stress during pregnancy and early childhood development," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    13. Viviane Sanfelice, 2022. "Mosquito‐borne disease and newborn health," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(1), pages 73-93, January.
    14. Victor Hugo de Oliveira & Ines Lee & Climent Quintana-Domeque, 2023. "Natural Disasters and Early Human Development: Hurricane Catarina and Infant Health in Brazil," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 58(3), pages 819-851.
    15. Ryan Brown, 2020. "The Intergenerational Impact of Terror: Did the 9/11 Tragedy Impact the Initial Human Capital of the Next Generation?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(4), pages 1459-1481, August.
    16. Armijos Bravo, Grace & Vall Castelló, Judit, 2021. "Terrorist attacks, Islamophobia and newborns’ health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    17. Jürges Hendrik & Westermaier Franz G., 2020. "Conflict Intensity and Birth Outcomes – Evidence from the West Bank," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 20(2), pages 1-8, April.
    18. Sulin Sardoschau, 2019. "Children of War: In-Utero Stress and Child Health in Iraq," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-02383137, HAL.
    19. Lucia Schiavon, 2020. "Maternal Postpartum Depression Effects on Child's Health," CHILD Working Papers Series 83 JEL Classification: I1, Centre for Household, Income, Labour and Demographic Economics (CHILD) - CCA.
    20. Hoyong Jung, 2023. "Can Universal Cash Transfer Save Newborns’ Birth Weight During the Pandemic?," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 42(1), pages 1-22, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:poprpr:v:43:y:2024:i:2:d:10.1007_s11113-023-09854-3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.