Demographic and Health Surveys Methodology - Measure DHS
Demographic and Health Surveys Methodology - Measure DHS
Demographic and Health Surveys Methodology - Measure DHS
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Decisions on AlternativesAn alternative formulation of exclusive breastfeeding would be to consider only children who have neverreceived anything but breast milk. The required information was collected only in the second phase of the<strong>DHS</strong>, when respondents were asked about the age of introduction of liquids <strong>and</strong> foods. These questionswere dropped when they were found to produce older ages at introduction of foods than that estimatedfrom current status.Changes over Time<strong>Surveys</strong> based on the <strong>DHS</strong> phase IV core questionnaire only ask about the feeding status of the youngestliving child who lives with the mother. Other children are assumed not to be breastfeeding.Statistics: Median <strong>and</strong> Mean Durations of Any Breastfeeding, Exclusive Breastfeeding <strong>and</strong>Predominant BreastfeedingDefinitionA. Coverage:1. Population base.2. All births in the time period 0 to 35 months before interview.B. Time period: Breastfeeding <strong>and</strong> other liquids <strong>and</strong> foods given in the 24 hours preceding thesurvey.CalculationA. Utilizes the numerators <strong>and</strong> denominators calculated for the proportions any breastfeeding,exclusive breastfeeding <strong>and</strong> predominant breastfeeding by time since birth, as given above.Numerators <strong>and</strong> denominators are each smoothed by a three-group moving average. For example,the value of the numerators <strong>and</strong> denominators for births that occurred 4–5 months before theinterview is the average of groups 2–3, 4–5, <strong>and</strong> 6–7 months. Groups < 2 months <strong>and</strong> 34–35 months are not smoothed. Smoothed proportions are calculated by dividing the smoothednumerator values by the smoothed denominator values of each two-month group.B. Median1. Beginning with the lowest time-since-birth group, each group is examined to see whether theproportion breastfeeding, exclusively breastfeeding, or predominantly breastfeeding is lessthan 0.5. Value of median is determined by linear interpolation of percentage of first groupbelow 0.5 <strong>and</strong> previous group percentage using the following formula:median = m i-1 + (p i-1 – 0.5)/(p i-1 – p i ) x (w i),where p i is the proportion breastfeeding, exclusively breastfeeding, or predominantlybreastfeeding for the first group where the proportion is below 0.5, p i-1 is the proportionbreastfeeding, exclusively breastfeeding, or predominantly breastfeeding for the precedinggroup, m i-1 is the midpoint value for the preceding group, <strong>and</strong> w i is the time width of thegroup taken as the difference between the midpoint value of the current group <strong>and</strong> thepreceding group.Guide to <strong>DHS</strong> Statistics 124 Updated September 2006