The termination of the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) Program after executive orders by US President Trump in January 2025 leaves a void of information and uncertainty around whether DHS data will continue to be available, the ethical and legal issues around how to treat individually held DHS datasets, and how key population health and development indicators will be tracked in LMICs going forward. We argue that there are serious legal, ethical, and practical pitfalls associated with the informal dissemination of DHS data. While the future of existing DHS datasets remains in flux with many stakeholders interested in preserving this resource, the global health and demographic research community should diversify its use of data sources, invest in strengthening data infrastructure in LMICs, and share data management and use practices publicly to accelerate research progress. Although interim funding by the Gates Foundation buys time to develop a new model of both data collection and data ownership and distribution, the need for a permanent, sustainable home for DHS data continues to be paramount.
Ghany et al. (Fri,) studied this question.