08. The Integrated Demographic and Health Series (IDHS), University of Minnesota

• In Event: 265 - Research Funding Opportunities and Data Resources (part of the Research Support Forum)

Abstract

The Integrated Demographic and Health Series (IDHS) project harmonizes Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data and documentation for Africa and India to facilitate comparative research across time and countries. With data from 18 countries and 76 surveys from the 1980s to the present, and with over 2000 variables relating to women of childbearing age and children under age 5, IDHS provides free online data that are consistently coded across samples without loss of information. The user-friendly website indicates at a glance which variables are available for each country and year; variable-specific online documentation provides codes and frequencies, universe statements, relevant survey text, and comparability discussions with a single click; and the extract system creates customized datasets with the samples and variables specified by the researcher in a variety of formats, including the major statistical packages. Topics covered include: demographics, work and education of women and their male partners, household possessions and utilities, family size desires, contraceptive knowledge and use, HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections, fistula, female genital cutting, sex practices and attitudes, condom use and access, domestic violence, women's status and household decision-making, tuberculosis, tobacco and alcohol use, maternal and infant health, insurance coverage, child and maternal nutrition, child vaccination, and treatment of diarrheal, respiratory, parasitic, and malarial diseases in children. The following countries are included: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, India, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The IDHS project at the Minnesota Population Center plans to eventually include data from all publicly available samples from The Demographic and Health Surveys Program, which covers over 300 surveys in more than 90 countries.

Author

• Elizabeth Heger Boyle, University of Minnesota