Journalists worldwide write about MEASURE DHS results. The dissemination of DHS, SPA and HIV data is often widely covered by media in survey countries, but journalists also use MEASURE DHS 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 MEASURE DHS.

2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004

2007

• India’s third National Family Health Survey Garners Global Media Coverage

  The results from India’s third National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3) have generated more than 300 articles in the Indian and international media. For a sampling of the coverage, visit the links below.

  Health Sector Improving at a Slow Pace
  Indian Express, 25 November 2007
  http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Health-sector-improving-at-a-slow-pace/243542/

  India's Hungry, Poor Dominate Latest Health Survey
  Reuters, October 11, 2007
  http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/DEL175278.htm

  Only 27% of Kids Have Birth Certificates
  The Times of India, November 5, 2007
  http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Only_27_kids_have_birth_certificates/articleshow/2517781.cms

  National Family Health Survey Paints Mixed Picture
  Hindu Business Live, October 11, 2007
  http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blnus/14111631.htm

  
  
• Uganda’s 2006 Demographic and Health Survey
  

  The results of 2006 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey were released in October 2007. The following articles highlight some of the key findings about maternal health care and HIV/AIDS.

  58% of Women Give Birth at Home
  The New Vision, Uganda’s Leading Website
  http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/19/598345

  'Maternal health requires sh40b'
  New Vision - Kampala, Uganda

  AIDS – ABC Approach Still Necessary
  AllAfrica.com. December 1, 2007
  Uganda: Aids - ABC Approach Still Necessary

  
  
• Article Highlights Prevalence of Vaginal Fistula in Malawi
  

  In the September 14, 2007, issue of the International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics (17870077), Dr. Kiersten Johnson of Macro International Inc. published the article, “Incontinence in Malawi: Analysis of a proxy measure of vaginal fistula in a national survey.” A summary follows.

  OBJECTIVE: to document the first effort to collect national lifetime prevalence data on vaginal fistulas and discern the usefulness of the measure.

  METHODS: The 11,698 women successfully interviewed in the 2005 Malawi Demographic and Health Survey were asked whether they had ever experienced leakage of urine or stool from their vagina. Multivariate techniques were then used to determine factors associated with fistula symptoms.

  RESULTS: The relationships between fistula symptoms and wealth and fistula symptoms and education were negative and monotonic. Rural women were 40% more likely than urban women to report fistula symptoms. Women who had experienced a stillbirth were 66% more likely to report the symptoms, and those who had experienced sexual violence were 71% more likely to report the symptoms. A crude fistula rate of 15.6 per 1000 live births was found for Malawi.

  CONCLUSIONS: Survey methods may be used to capture the prevalence of vaginal fistula cases in a given country, but further work is needed to improve the sensitivity and specificity of the questions asked.

  For more information, please go the journal’s website: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/506037/description#description

  
  
• Study Reveals Marriage Is Leading Source of New HIV Infections
  

  A new Macro International Inc./MEASURE DHS study authored by Vinod Mishra and others challenges widespread beliefs about which partner brings HIV into marriages. The new study finds that in 4 of the 11 countries studied, women were the infected partner in a majority of cases. Most HIV prevention efforts have been aimed at men. The study showed, however, a significant proportion of women’s infections occurred ten or more years into the marriage. Cote d’Ivoire and Kenya lead the percentage of female discordant infections, at 62%. But even in Lesotho, where the female-positive rate was lowest, female discordant HIV infections stood at 34%.

  Mishra’s analysis on discordant HIV infections was presented at the HIV/AIDS Implementers’ Meeting held June 16-19 in Kigali, Rwanda. The meeting, sponsored by PEPFAR, the Global Fund, UNAIDS, UNICEF, WHO, and the World Bank was attended by more than 1,500 HIV/AIDS program planners and implementers from around the world. David Wilson of the World Bank and David Apuuli of the Uganda AIDS Commission, Plenary speakers, pointed out that marital infections are the leading source of new infections in many countries. They emphasized the need to look carefully where new infections are occurring in each country.

  During his presentation, Mishra highlighted the importance of reaching both men and women with prevention efforts. “We cannot afford to ignore the risk of female partners transmitting the HIV virus to their spouses, a very substantial source of new HIV infections,” Vinod warned. “This is not about laying blame; it’s about saving lives by preventing future infections.”

  To read more about the study, visit the links below:

  IRIN PlusNews article - http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=72825
  
  International AIDS Society article - http://www.iasociety.org/Default.aspx?pageId=5&elementId=10282

  The Economist article - http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9401560

  
  
• Boston Globe Article Highlights Zimbabwe’s Orphans The Boston Globe
  July 18, 2007
  Calverton, MD – An article in today’s Boston Globe highlights the growing plight of children in Zimbabwe. In recent years, immunization rates have declined and the number of orphans has increased. The article is based on findings from the recently released 2005-06 Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Survey (DHS). “Largely because of the AIDS crisis, nearly one-quarter of all children in Zimbabwe are orphans, a figure that approaches historic levels set in Rwanda after the genocide in 1994, according to a new national survey.”
  
  To read the full article, please go to http://www.boston.com/news/world/africa/articles/2007/07/18/number_of_orphans_spikes_as_zimbabwe_crises_deepen

2006

• African AIDS-poverty link challenged
  The Boston Globe
  June 14, 2006
  DURBAN, South Africa — The richest people in Africa have higher HIV prevalence rates than the poorest, disputing commonly held beliefs that AIDS is a disease driven by poverty, according to an analysis released Tuesday of recent data from eight African countries.
  Read this Article
• Malawi DHS Findings Discussed on Local Radio Show
  May 9, 2006
  Capital Radio Malawi on Tuesday, May 9, 2006 featured American Embassy's Public Affairs Officer on one of the radio's popular shows, Day Break Malawi. The interview was based on key 2004 Malawi DHS findings. Capital Radio is Malawi's most prominent private hit music FM radio station with an audience of about 3.8 million. A few days earlier, Capital Radio was voted the best electronic media house of the year by the National Media Institute of Southern Africa (NAMISA), a national chapter of the regional body, Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), during events to commemorate 2006 World Press Freedom Day.
  Read a transcript of the interview
• 85% of Malawians Ignorant of their HIV/AIDS Status
  The Chronicle, Vol. 13, No. 603
  1-7 May 2006, page 7
  The 2004 Malawi Demographic and Health Survey (2004 MDHS) results released last Wednesday in Lilongwe have shown that 85% of Malawians have not gone for HIV/AIDS testing.
  Read this Article (Reprinted with permission)
• How AIDS in Africa Was Overstated
  The Washington Post
  April 6, 2006
  KIGALI, Rwanda -- Researchers said nearly two decades ago that this tiny country was part of an AIDS Belt stretching across the midsection of Africa, a place so infected with a new, incurable disease that, in the hardest-hit places, one in three working-age adults were already doomed to die of it.
  Read this Article (To read this article, you may need to register with the Washington Post website)

2005

• Acute Malnutrition Rising Across Southern Africa
  December 20, 2005
  The nutritional situation in Southern African remains fragile - underscored by rising acute malnutrition rates - and is expected to worsen further as the lean season progresses.
  Read this Article
• Millions of Girls Mutilated
  November 24, 2005.
  An estimated three million girls and women, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, undergo female genital mutilation each year.
  Read this Article
• Aproape o treime dintre copii sunt afectaţi de diferite forme de anemie
  (Original in Romanian. English translation also available.)
  Grup de Presa FLUX - Romania
  September 20, 2005
  About one third of women and children under age 5 in the Republic of Moldova have some degree of anemia, as revealed by the preliminary results of the Demographic and Health Survey (MDHS) carried out in the Republic of Moldova this year.
  Read this Article
• The Vicious Cycle of Malnutrition
  The New Nation - Bangladesh
  September 3, 2005
  It has been found in the last Demographic and Health Survey of Bangladesh as well as nutrition survey that 52% children under 2 years of age have been suffering from severe and moderate malnutrition.
  Read this Article
• Help reduce child mortality through breastfeeding, mothers urged
  May 8, 2005
  In Ghana, the National Co-ordinator of the Breastfeeding Promotion Committee, Mrs Goskia Alarbi, has stressed the need for lactating mothers to adopt the exclusive breastfeeding policy to reduce under-five mortality rate in the country.
  Read this Article
• Population office mobilizes media for public awareness
  June 17, 2005
  In the Zamboanga Peninsula and the ARMM regions of the Philippines, the Commission on Population (Popcom) is mobilizing the media sector in its dissemination campaign to drum up awareness on the results of the 2003 National Demographic Health Survey (NDHS).
  Read this Article
• Mortalité maternelle et infantile : le Maroc après la Tunisie et avant l’Algérie
  April 9, 2005
  (This press release is in French only.) La mortalité maternelle et infantile reste inquiétante en Afrique du Nord : Algérie, Tunisie et Maroc.
  Read this Article
• Report Says Female Genital Cutting is Changing Over Time
  May 2, 2005
  Female genital cutting is on the decline in some areas, and practices are changing, according to a new report. Also known as female circumcision and female genital mutilation, female genital cutting (FGC) varies among ethnic groups and has been widely misunderstood, says the report.
  Read this Article

2004

• 'Sakit ng lalake' (men's diseases)
  December 1, 2004
  In his third column on the Philippines DHS, Michael Tan of the Philippine Daily Inquirer interprets DHS data on attitudes toward people living with HIV, suggesting that Filipinos "want to know who has HIV so they can keep away."
  Other columns: 100,000 children | Endangered families
  Read this Article
• 100,000 children
  November 24, 2004
  Columnist Michael Tan of the Philippine Daily Inquirer puts a face on infant mortality rates from the Philippines DHS, projecting that 100,000 children born in the Philippines this year will not live to the age of five. Second in a series.
  Read this Article
• Endangered families
  November 19, 2004
  The Philippine Daily Inquirer publishes the first installment in a series by regular columnist Michael Tan exploring results from the Philippines National Demographic and Health Survey.
  Read this Article
• Circumcised men less likely to get AIDS
  November 16, 2004
  The Boston Globe highlights DHS data from Kenya showing that uncircumcised men have an HIV rate 11 times greater than that of circumcised men.
  Read this Article
• Educated women in RP prefer natural family planning methods: study
  November 9, 2004
  The Manila Sun Star reports on the latest Philippines DHS data, showing that educated women in the Philippines are concerned about the side effects of modern contraceptive methods.
  Read this Article
• Teenage pregnancy highest among women with low education - GDHS
  October 16, 2004
  The Ghana News Agency reports on one of three local seminars held in Ghana this month on the results of the 2003 Ghana DHS.
  Read this Article
• CAMEROON: HIV/AIDS New survey shows lower HIV prevalence rate of 5.5 percent
  October 15, 2004
  The IRIN news agency reports new HIV prevalence data from the Cameroon DHS survey. The DHS data indicates that only 5.5 percent of adults in Cameroon are HIV positive, compared with the previous sentinel surveillance estimate of 11.8 percent.
  Read this Article
• ZAMBIA: Almost 50 percent of women experience abuse, report
  October 15, 2004
  The IRIN news agency highlighted Zambia's high rates of domestic violence as documented in a recent DHS report. Read this Article
  
• Local Study Advocates Male 'Cut' in Aids War
  August 25, 2004
  The East African Standard in Nairobi, Kenya, reports on DHS findings that male circumcision reduces the risk of HIV infection.
  Read this Article