DHS in the News

Journalists worldwide write about The DHS Program results. The dissemination of DHS, SPA and HIV data is often widely covered by media in survey countries, but journalists also use The DHS Program data throughout the year as background information for their stories, or to compare health and development indicators across countries. These data are also used by journalists in the United States and other developed countries, as it is considered the gold standard of population, health and nutrition data. Below are some examples of recent news coverage. Please note: The links below are to websites outside The DHS Program.

Apr 08, 2010
Mozambique: Many citizens still ignorant about HIV and AIDS
MOZAMBIQUE NEWS AGENCY (AIM)

...A new national survey on HIV and AIDS "destroys the myth that everybody already knows about AID," Mozambican Health Minister Ivo Garrido declared on Thursday.

Although there has been an increase in knowledge over the past few years, the survey, he noted, shows "that the majority of Mozambicans still do not possess the indispensable minimum of knowledge"...
http://allafrica.com/stories/201004080798.html
Mar 08, 2010
Uganda: Women and the cross of childbirth

Muniini K. Mulera
Commentary
DAILY MONITOR (Uganda)

...The African woman bears a cross with deadly thorns that sprout each time she conceives. To put the tragedy of motherhood in Uganda and in Sub-Saharan Africa into context, let us look at some recent global and national figures from the World Health Organisation and the Uganda Demographic and Health Survey...

http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/Commentary/-/689364/874974/-/ahmkc2z/-/index.html
Feb 27, 2010
Obstetricians and gynecologists of Ghana hold AGM
Christabel Akoto-Manu & Agnes Opoku Sarpong
THE GHANAIAN TIMES (Ghana)

..She stated that the result of the 2008 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey appeared to give a ray of hope, in that whereas under-5 mortality has markedly reduced to 80 per 1000 live births from 111 per 1000 live births for the previous survey of 2003, the same level of accelerated reduction cannot be said for maternal mortality...
http://www.newtimes.com.gh/story/878
Jan 12, 2010
Global: The West and the Rest are converging

Hans Rosling
Opinion
Special to CNN

...How did young parents, governments and aid organizations jointly manage to improve this noble metric, to improve the chances of surviving childhood? Due to the wise funding by USAID of the Demographic and Health Surveys, we know the answer. Since 1990, Bangladesh, Egypt and Brazil have had an average annual rate of reduction in child mortality of 4.7 percent, 5.5 percent and 6.3 percent, respectively...

http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/01/12/rosling.converging.world/index.html?iref=allsearch
Sep 29, 2009
Go forth and multiply a lot less: Lower fertility is changing the world for the better

THE ECONOMIST

..A surprising amount is known about how many children parents want, thanks to a series of surveys by the Demographic and Health Surveys programme. The picture it paints is of huge numbers of unplanned pregnancies. In Brazil, for example, the wanted fertility rate in 1996 (the most recent year available) was 1.8; the actual fertility rate then was 2.5. In India the wanted rate in 2006 was 1.9, the actual one, 2.7. In Ghana the figures for 2003 were 3.7 and 4.4. The rule seems to be that women want one child fewer than they are having (except in some rich countries, where they say they want more)...

http://www.economist.com/node/14743589?story_id=14743589