Individual and local level factors and antenatal care use in Colombia: a multilevel analysis

This paper examined the association between individual and local level factors and the number of antenatal care visits completed by women in Colombia using data from the 2010 Colombian Demographic and Health Survey and multilevel logistic regression models. Our findings suggest that, in addition to maternal socioeconomic status, contextual factors influence whether pregnant women complete the minimum recommended number of antenatal care visits. These factors include: level of women's autonomy in the community, regional inequalities and access barriers caused by distance (OR = 0.057), costs of services (OR = 0.035), and/or a lack of confidence in doctors (OR = 0.036). Our results highlight the existence of inequalities in access to antenatal care and the importance of considering the local context in the design of effective maternal care policies in Colombia. Furthermore, our findings regarding individual factors corroborate the evidence from other countries and offer new insights into the association between local level factors and number of antenatal care visits.