Category Archives: News

The Best of DHS 2017

Written by: The DHS Program

27 Dec, 2017

Another year has passed at The DHS Program, and we’re looking back at some of our best moments throughout the year! Just to name a few: Afghanistan, Angola, and Myanmar released their first-ever Demographic and Health Surveys.      The new and improved Spatial Data Repository website now includes modeled surfaces and geospatial covariates.  We introduced the […]


José Miguel Guzmán Elected 2017 IUSSP Laureate

Written by: The DHS Program

16 Nov, 2017

We are honored to announce that The DHS Program’s Regional Coordinator, José Miguel Guzmán, was recently named the 2017 International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP) Laureate. He was elected by the IUSSP Council in recognition of his lifetime achievements in population issues and influence on research, training, and public policy. Earlier this month, IUSSP […]


Five Ways IPUMS-DHS Can Simplify Your Life

Written by: The DHS Program

26 Jul, 2017

Have you ever formatted what you thought were your final models only to discover that: The survey question you used for your dependent variable had five rather than four variations across surveys? There are two other samples (not in your analysis) in which respondents were asked precisely the question that interests you? There is a […]


The DHS Program at the 2017 PAA Annual Meeting

Written by: The DHS Program

24 Apr, 2017

The DHS Program research team at the 2016 PAA Annual Meeting We are pleased to announce that The DHS Program and staff will be attending this year’s Population Association of America (PAA) Annual Meeting in Chicago from April 27-29. PAA is a nonprofit, scientific, professional organization established to promote the improvement, advancement, and progress of […]


New Data Available from DHS-7 Questionnaire: Maternal and Pregnancy-Related Mortality

Written by: The DHS Program

11 Apr, 2017
Baby Kabuche, 30 yrs old, 4 months pregnant, outside her house. Baby has 2 children: Eric, 12, living with granparents in Musoma and Judith, 6, living with her and her husband. She works in a factory manufacturing alluminium pots and iron rods. But as she becqme pregnant she took some unpaid leave as the factory uses acid and other toxic materials and she cares for the safety and health of her baby. Baby got malaria only once as she sleeps under mosquito net all the time. This new one makes her happy as it is treated with mosquito repellent and it is more effective.

© 2016 Riccardo Gangale/VectorWorks, Courtesy of Photoshare In 2014, The DHS Program began the process of updating the standard DHS questionnaires. With input from stakeholders, feedback from in-country implementing agencies, and a host of lessons learned from the previous 5-year program, we added, modified, and, in some cases, deleted questions. For many indicators, the actual […]


Where Statistics are Beautiful

Written by: Sunita Kishor

10 Feb, 2017

Hans Rosling created a world where “statistics are beautiful” and data are entertaining. The staff at The DHS Program have always believed these things to be true but found it difficult to convince the masses. And then came Gapminder and the juggernaut of Hans Rosling’s charismatic, informative, and perspective-changing data presentations. The DHS Program was heartbroken […]


Update: Downloadable Citations for DHS Final Survey Reports Now Available

Written by: The DHS Program

08 Feb, 2017

Is this how you look when you’re compiling your references? via GIPHY A recent DHS comparative report included references to 52 Demographic and Health Surveys.  You could spend hours entering bibliographic information, or you can download the citations directly into your reference software. In 2015, The DHS Program announced the availability of downloadable citations for […]


A New DHS Questionnaire: Interviewing Fieldworkers

Written by: The DHS Program

25 Jan, 2017

There’s a new survey in town. But it’s probably not what you expect. For 30 years, The DHS Program has trained thousands of fieldworkers to conduct over 300 surveys – but who are these fieldworkers? It is well documented that interviewers affect the quality of the data being collected, for example, in the areas of […]


Measuring the SDGs: The Role of Household Surveys

Written by: The DHS Program

11 Jan, 2017

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have replaced the Millennium Development Goals with broad and lofty aspirations ranging from health, education, and gender equality to clean energy and responsible consumption. Behind each Sustainable Development Goal is a series of targets and each target can be measured by one or more indicators. Many of the targets in […]


Video: Best of DHS 2016

Written by: The DHS Program

21 Dec, 2016

Take a look back at the highlights of The DHS Program from 2016… The DHS Program welcomed several new staff members: via GIPHY The 2014 Lesotho DHS final report was released using a new final report format: via GIPHY Faster data, including the model datasets and bulk downloading of datasets using a download manager: via […]