Demographic and Health Surveys Methodology - Measure DHS

CHILDREN’S AND WOMEN’S NUTRITIONAL STATUSCHILDREN’S ANEMIA STATUSStatistics: Percentages of Children between Ages 6 and 59 Months, by Anemia StatusDefinitionA. Coverage:1. Population base: Living children born 6 to 59 months before the survey.2. Time period: Current status at time of the survey.B. Numerators:1. Any anemia: Number of children whose hemoglobin count is less than 11 grams per deciliter(g/dl).2. Mild anemia: Number of children whose hemoglobin count is between 10.0 and 10.9 gramsper deciliter (g/dl).3. Moderate anemia: Number of children whose hemoglobin count is between 7.0 and 9.9 gramsper deciliter (g/dl).4. Severe anemia: Number of children whose hemoglobin count is less than 7.0 grams perdeciliter (g/dl).C. Denominator: Number of children between ages 6 and 59 months before the survey.CalculationA. At the time of creation of a recode file, an adjustment of the hemoglobin count is made foraltitude. Rather than change the cutoff points, the effective hemoglobin count is lowered asaltitude increases, since oxygen is less available. The adjustment is made with the followingformulas:adjust = – 0.032*alt + 0.022*alt 2adjHb = Hb – adjustwhere adjust is the amount of the adjustment, alt is altitude in 1,000 feet (converted from metersby dividing by 1,000 and multiplying by 3.3), adjHb is the adjusted hemoglobin level, and Hb isthe measured hemoglobin level in grams per deciliter. No adjustment is made for altitudes below1,000 meters.B. The percentage anemic, by category, is obtained by dividing the numerators by the denominatorand multiplying the quotient by 100.Guide to DHS Statistics 138 Updated October 2012