Seminario de Investigación "Preventing Teen Pregnancies at Scale"
School-Based Access to Contraceptives and Reproductive Health
El seminario, destinado a docentes, investigadores, becarios y estudiantes interesados en la temática, se llevó a cabo el martes 22 de abril a las 12:30 hs. en la sala 425 de nuestra Facultad de Ciencias Económicas UNLP.
Nicolás Roig es Profesor del Departamento de Economía de la Universidad de Alicante, e investigador asociado del Centro de Estudios para el Desarrollo Humano (CEDH). Tiene un PhD en Economía por University of Southern California y una Maestría en Economía por la Universidad de San Andrés, donde también se graduó como Licenciado en Economía. Ha sido consultor de organismos internacionales como el Banco Mundial y el BID. Sus investigaciones se centran en temas de economía del comportamiento y economía del desarrollo, principalmente en el campo de la economía de la salud. Ha estudiado tópicos como el desarrollo adolescente y la persistencia de la desigualdad, principalmente en América Latina.
ABSTRACT: This paper evaluates the impact of Argentina’s National Plan for the Prevention of Unintended Pregnancy in Adolescence (ENIA)—a large-scale, school-based reproductive health program that combined comprehensive sex education, confidential counseling, and access to long-acting reversible contraceptives. Launched in 2018 across 36 counties, ENIA reached over 500,000 adolescents yearly. Leveraging temporal and geographic variation in program rollout, along with multiple data sources—including official birth records, school censuses, and administrative data—I find that ENIA reduced adolescent birth rates by approximately 10% relative to control counties, accounting for over 1,800 averted births. This effect, which emerged 9 months after implementation, is primarily explained by increased adoption of sub-dermal implants facilitated through private in-school counseling appointments. Heterogenous analyses suggest that effects are large and significant in socially conservative regions—regions self-proclaimed Pro-Life or with a higher share of legislators voting against abortion—where barriers to contraceptive access may be higher. These findings demonstrate the effectiveness of integrated health and education policies for reducing adolescent fertility at scale, possibly by relaxing constraints on reproductive autonomy.
AUTOR: Nicolás Roig (Universidad de Alicante)
ORGANIZA: Departamento de Economía, Instituto de Investigaciones Económicas y Revista Económica
CONTACTO: iie@econo.unlp.edu.ar
