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.

Mar 10, 2011
Kenya: Level the playing field for women

Rob Macaire
Commentary
BUSINESS DAILY AFRICA (Kenya)

...The Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (2008-9) found that only 44 percent of babies were delivered in the presence of a health professional.

Most Kenyan women (57 percent) have their babies at home.

Often, when complications occur, this endangers their lives, and those of their babies.

Only 17 percent of mothers in North Eastern and 25 percent in Western province delivered their babies in health centres, according to the Demographic and Health Survey.

It seems unacceptable in the 21st century that for so many women, pregnancy and childbirth should still represent such risks...

http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Opinion+++Analysis/Level+the+playing+field+for+women/-/539548/1121978/-/view/printVersion/-/hpmom8/-/index.html
Feb 28, 2011
Bangladesh: Population policy being revamped

BDNEWS24 (Bangladesh)

...According to the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey, contraceptive use rate was only 55.8 percent in 2007. Population growth rate is 1.39 percent and total fertility rate is 2.7 per woman.

BDHS findings also showed that poor have one more child than rich, suggesting inequity of interventions between rich and poor...

http://bdnews24.com/details.php?id=188546&cid=13
Jan 20, 2011
Kenya: Media's role in marital rape

Arthur Okwemba
Commentary
GENDER LINKS OPINION AND COMMENTARY SERVICE

...Several months ago I wrote a piece on marital rape in Kenya. Two editors working with a respected Kenyan newspaper refused to publish it.

"There is nothing like marital rape, what are you trying to tell people," one editor told me. His reaction surprised me because my story was not based on hearsay or uncorroborated assertions, but rather on the findings of the respected 2008-2009 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey...

http://www.genderlinks.org.za/article/medias-role-in-marital-rape-2011-01-20
Jan 20, 2011
India: High infant, maternal mortality rates sickening state

TIMES OF INDIA (India)

BANGALORE: If one were to go by the latest National Family Health Survey, Karnataka is not in the pink of health.

Major health indicators -- Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) -- show the state in poor light. The survey report presented by Amit Mohan Prasad, joint secretary of Union ministry of health and family welfare, to health minister B Sreeramulu on Wednesday indicated the MMR in Karnataka is 213 for every one-lakh live births. In neighbouring Kerala and Tamil Nadu, where institutional deliveries touch 95%, MMR is less than 200. IMR records 45 for every 1,000 live births in the state, while Kerala and Tamil Nadu records 36 and 41 respectively...

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/High-infant-maternal-mortality-rates-sickening-state/articleshow/7322974.cms
Jan 19, 2011
Bangladesh: HIV testing resumes after 3 years

Nurul Islam Hasib
BDNEWS24 (Bangladesh)

...But after 20 years, the success of HIV prevention methods still remains low.

According to the latest Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey, only 41 percent men aged between 15 and 49 know all three methods –- abstinence, being faithful and using condoms -- of preventing HIV while the rate is only 14 percent among women of the same group...

http://www.bdnews24.com/details.php?id=184962&cid=13