Monthly Archives: December 2014

The Nutrition Landscape in India

Written by: The DHS Program

16 Dec, 2014

This post is part of a series commemorating 30 years of The DHS Program. By Fred Arnold Historically, India has suffered through devastating periods of famine, but due to the Green Revolution, improved food storage and distribution, and other factors, famine has been all but eradicated in the country. However, malnutrition continues to threaten the […]


Gender in the Demographic & Health Surveys: Past, Present, & Future

Written by: Sunita Kishor

10 Dec, 2014

This post is part of a series commemorating 30 years of The DHS Program. When I first started at The DHS Program in late 1993 as a Women-in-Development Specialist, the survey questionnaires contained few questions that could shed light on the impact of gender on demographic behavior and health. While the questionnaires were designed to […]


A look back at the 1986 Liberia DHS

Written by: The DHS Program

04 Dec, 2014

This post is part of a series commemorating 30 years of The DHS Program. By Annie Cross The fact that Liberia is currently battling the Ebola crisis makes it harder to appreciate the fact that the recently released report on the 2013 Liberia Demographic and Health Survey (LDHS) showed improvement in most of the health-related […]


Celebrating 30 years of DHS

Written by: Laurie Liskin

02 Dec, 2014

2014 marks the 30th anniversary for the USAID-funded Demographic and Health Surveys Program and my eleventh anniversary as Senior Advisor for Communication with the project.  Much has changed over the past three decades: we’ve done many more surveys and much more complex surveys, added biomarkers, conducted more formal capacity building, and varied the kind of dissemination […]


Anthropometry measurement (height and weight) is a core component of DHS surveys that is used to generate indicators on nutritional status. The Biomarker Questionnaire now includes questions on clothing and hairstyle interference on measurements for both women and children for improved interpretation.