Problems in estimating the number of women in need of subsidized prenatal care

For effective allocation of resources, public program planners need to know how many women require subsidized prenatal care and where they are located. Because sample surveys are expensive, indirect methods of estimation using secondary data sources are frequently used to arrive at quick annual estimates. Census data on poverty are often incorporated into such methods, but out study of the eight southeast States in Federal Region IV shows that available census data severely underestimate the proportion of pregnant women who are poor. Updated poverty data from the 1990 census will not solve this problem of underestimation. Alternative methods for estimating the number of women in need of subsidized prenatal care services, for measuring unmet need, and for doing estimates on the county level are presented and evaluated. Such considerations are especially important, given the new Title V block grant reporting requirements.