The Demographic and Health Surveys Program: An Overview

With funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development the Demographic and Health Surveys program (DHS) begun in 1984 was set up as a 5 year project that would internationally collect data and disseminate information to enhance the body of data on demographics and family planning that is collected by the World Fertility Surveys (WFS) and the Contraceptive Prevalence Surveys (CPS). It is projected that the project will have undertaken 35 surveys in 30 developing countries by the end of 1989. The primary objective of the program is to inform policy-makers and program planners of the latest available data to enable them to make intelligent and sound program choices. The DHS also works to enhance the data bases of national health and population centers to augment survey research methodology and to aid developing countries in instituting their own demographic and health surveys. One of the special features of the program and survey is its coverage and attention to child and infant health. The survey also seeks to expand the data retrieved by the WFS. Other areas covered by the survey include: fertility determinants knowledge and use of contraceptives geographic mobility and exposure to mass media. Through the use of a core questionnaire in 29 of the 35 surveys the DHS program has the advantages of more rapid information retrieval and comparative analysis of data.