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Begun in 1984, the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) project is the third consecutive worldwide research project initiated by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to provide data and analysis on the population, health, and nutrition of women and children in developing countries. Its two predecessors, the World Fertility Survey (WFS) and the Contraceptive Prevalence Surveys (CPS), paved the way for the DHS project by focusing their research on questions related to fertility, family planning, and mortality.
Quotes:
"DHS has unquestionably become the gold standard of survey data in the population and health sector." –Richard Cornelius, Former Cognizant Technical Officer, MEASURE DHS Project, USAID
"Of all survey programs, [DHS] is the one that lets you see the entire continuum. It has changed over the years. But it’s always been at the forefront and cutting edge in addressing issues."—Stan Bernstein, Senior Policy Advisor, UNFPA
"[We] used this information to plan better for health services, make sure there is equity between regions, and plan how to distribute resources. It’s the most powerful development tool available for countries of the third world."—Dr. Fatma Mrisho, Executive Chairman, Tanzania AIDS Commission, Tanzania
"[DHS has] given us tools and the means to have evidence-based decisionmaking. We’re always searching for data that gives us a benchmark to really monitor our progress and see where we’re not succeeding." –Robert Clay, Director, Office of HIV/AIDS, USAID
"What I did is just a tiny fraction of stories that are available from the [DHS] data. Even now, I hear excitement from people in the field…[DHS] drives conversation, it drives policy, and it really changes the whole direction sometimes that the health field is moving in."—John Donnelly, Journalist, formerly of the Boston Globe
- 1984-1997 The Demographic and Health Surveys project is established at the Institute for Resource Development, Inc. (IRD), a subsidiary of the Westinghouse Electric Company. DHS combines the qualities of the WFS and the CPS and adds important questions on maternal and child health and nutrition.
- 1985 Fieldwork begins in El Salvador, DHS’s first survey.
- 1987 Anthropometry is measured for first time, Sri Lanka.
- 1989 IRD is acquired by Macro International Inc.
- 1995 Anemia is measured for first time, Kazakhstan.
- 1997-2003 DHS is folded into USAID's multi-project MEASURE program as MEASURE DHS+, which incorporates traditional DHS features, expands the content on maternal and child health, and adds biomarker testing to numerous surveys.
- 1999 First Service Provision Assessment Survey, Bangladesh
- 2001 First HIV testing in a DHS, Mali and Zambia
- 2003-2008 In October 2003, under the new MEASURE DHS project, ORC Macro joins forces with Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health/Center for Communication Programs, PATH, Casals and Associates, and Jorge Scientific Corporation (JSC) to expand data collection efforts and access to and use of demographic and health data.
- 2006 First Malaria Indicator Survey, Angola
- 2007 PDAs are used to collect data, Peru
- October 2008 Macro and its partners Hopkins’ CCP, PATH, Futures Institute, Blue Raster, and CAMRIS are awarded a five year USAID contract to continue the MEASURE DHS project.
- April 2009 Macro International Inc is acquired by ICF International and now operates under the name ICF Macro.
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