Impact of the Salud Mesoamerica Initiative on adolescent pregnancy in Costa Rica: new evidence on multisectoral interventions

Sánchez, Isabel

Impact of the Salud Mesoamerica Initiative on adolescent pregnancy in Costa Rica: new evidence on multisectoral interventions

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Sánchez, I. Impact of the Salud Mesoamerica Initiative on adolescent pregnancy in Costa Rica: new evidence on multisectoral interventions. 2020. handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10230/52645

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Abstract

To address the high rates of adolescent pregnancy and reduce its difficult consequences on young mothers and their children, the Costa Rican government (with the support of IDB) implemented in 2013 the Salud Mesoamerica Initiative (SM) in the most vulnerable regions. This program focuses on an improvement in the access and quality of sexual and reproductive health for adolescents. Additionally, the strategy includes strong coordination with multiple public sectors, such as education, nutrition and childcare, and child welfare. According to the literature on the causes of adolescent pregnancy and the policy evidence, the design of SM promises to be highly effective. In fact, international organizations’ last recommendations encourage the implementation of multisectoral programs as an integrated response to prevent this issue. However, this approach is rarely implemented and although there is some evaluation analysis, the evidence is still limited. This study examines the impact of SM by comparing the improvements in adolescent pregnancy and risk factors in the areas with and without the intervention, using differences in differences analysis. The results suggest that SM had a positive impact as the treated areas had greater reductions in these indicators than the rest of the country. These findings increase the evidence available on the impact of multisectoral programs and offers a first evaluation of SM in Costa Rica.