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| Measure DHS | |
|---|---|
| Name | Measure DHS |
| Type | International health survey program |
| Founded | 1984 |
| Headquarters | Calverton, Maryland |
| Area served | Global |
Measure DHS is a global household survey program that provides standardized, comparable data on population, health, and nutrition across low- and middle-income countries. The program supports national statistical offices, ministries of health, and international agencies by producing microdata, survey reports, and methodological guidance to inform policy and program decisions. Measure DHS is administered in collaboration with multiple international partners and is widely used by researchers, United Nations agencies, bilateral donors, and nongovernmental organizations.
Measure DHS produces nationally representative surveys that include modules on fertility, family planning, maternal and child health, HIV, malaria, nutrition, and reproductive health. The program is closely associated with institutions such as the United States Agency for International Development, the Demographic and Health Surveys Program, and academic partners including the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and the University of California, Berkeley. Surveys follow internationally recognized sampling standards used by organizations such as the World Health Organization and the United Nations Population Fund. Outputs include anonymized microdata, tabulation plans, and analytical reports that inform policy instruments like the Sustainable Development Goals and national strategic plans.
Measure DHS traces its origins to collaborative initiatives in the 1980s aimed at addressing gaps in reproductive health data across Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and other regions. Early technical partners included the MacArthur Foundation and bilateral agencies such as the United Kingdom Department for International Development. Over successive decades the program expanded survey content to incorporate biomarkers (e.g., HIV testing linked to protocols from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS), anthropometry aligned with standards from the World Health Organization, and malaria diagnostics coordinated with the President's Malaria Initiative. Institutional development included capacity-building engagements with national entities such as the Nigeria National Population Commission and the Indian Council of Medical Research.
Measure DHS employs stratified, multi-stage cluster sampling designs consistent with statistical practice endorsed by the United Nations Statistical Commission and methodological literature from the International Statistical Institute. Core instruments include the Household Questionnaire, the Woman's Questionnaire, the Man's Questionnaire, and the Biomarker Questionnaire; modules draw on standards established by the Demographic and Health Surveys Program and technical guidance from the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the United Nations Children's Fund. Sampling frames often use the most recent censuses coordinated with national bureaus such as the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics and the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. Questionnaire translation and pretesting are conducted in collaboration with local universities and research institutes including Makerere University and the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research.
Fieldwork is managed through partnerships with national statistical offices, fieldwork contractors, and international technical teams. Field operations integrate electronic data collection using computer-assisted personal interviewing technologies influenced by standards from the World Health Organization and software practices used by the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. Biomarker collection protocols follow laboratory guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the International Organization for Standardization where applicable. Training of interviewers and supervisors often involves collaborations with institutions like the African Population and Health Research Center and country ministries such as the Ministry of Health (Ghana).
Measure DHS applies standardized data cleaning, weighting, and anonymization procedures vetted by the Demographic and Health Surveys Program and statistical reviewers from the World Bank and the United Nations. Quality assurance mechanisms include re-interview protocols, field biomarker validation, and cluster-level plausibility checks informed by methodologies published in journals such as the Journal of Official Statistics and Demography (journal). Anonymized datasets are made available to researchers, policy analysts, and international agencies under data access agreements; secondary analyses by institutions like the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and think tanks such as the International Center for Research on Women frequently use these public-use files.
Analyses of Measure DHS data have contributed to evidence on trends in fertility decline, contraceptive prevalence, maternal mortality estimates used by the World Health Organization, prevalence and incidence estimates incorporated into UNAIDS reporting, and malnutrition trends used by the World Food Programme. Country-level studies have informed policy shifts in nations including Ethiopia, Nepal, and Rwanda and have been cited in evaluations of programs funded by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and bilateral initiatives such as the United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Peer-reviewed research leveraging Measure DHS datasets appears across outlets including The Lancet, PLoS Medicine, and the Bulletin of the World Health Organization.
Measure DHS is governed through partnerships among international donors, technical agencies, and academic institutions. Principal funders historically include the United States Agency for International Development, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and multilateral organizations such as the World Bank. Technical governance and methodological oversight draw on advisory bodies including experts from the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population and the Population Association of America. Operational partnerships engage national statistical offices, ministries of health, universities, and research centers across regions including Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa.