Frequently Asked Questions
Q. How can these data be used?
DHS youth data can be used in many important ways. It can help to develop new youth policies or to update existing ones. The data can also help design youth programs, or to evaluate existing programs for effectiveness and impact. DHS data can also serve as points of comparison – with neighboring countries or within a region, such as East Africa.
In countries where multiple DHS surveys have been conducted, the data can be used to monitor trends, and to measure progress in key areas, such as HIV knowledge or pregnancy rates. At the same time, it can also signal when progress has stalled or indicators are worsening, signaling the need for different programs or additional resources.
Youth data can be compared with adult data. For example, data on young men’s and women’s knowledge of ways to prevent HIV can be compared to data on adults’ knowledge. These comparisons can help focus programs and streamline interventions.
Q. Is surveying youth different from surveying adults?
In the standard DHS, youth and adults are asked the same questions during a survey. They are also asked in the same manner; that is, face-to-face interviews conducted in their homes.
Q. Does DHS need permission to talk with youth, especially those under age 18?
Anyone 18 years and older is considered an adult. To interview young adults age 15 to 17 years, the signed consent of a parent or guardian is required in addition to the consent of the youth respondent.
DHS HIV consent is standard for all respondents, adults and youths. But some countries add special requirements. As a result, the exact wording or requirements for biomarker consent forms may vary from country to country.
Q. What if a youth tests positive for HIV?
All survey participants are given a pamphlet with HIV voluntary testing and counseling (VCT) information in their area. DHS staff can not offer counseling or treatment. All DHS data is de-linked and scrambled, so it is all anonymous. DHS can not trace back to an individual to give them their results. Also, the results are not known for weeks because all testing is done in laboratories.
Q. What if I am interested in a country that is not listed under “Country Profiles”?
Please check the full list of DHS countries to see if a survey has been conducted there (http://www.measuredhs.com/countries/start.cfm). If so, then it is possible to check for youth data by looking at the specific age groups you are interested in (i.e. women ages 15-19). The respondents are grouped by age, so look at the age cut-offs for the indicators of interest to you.
If you do not see the country listed, then DHS has not conducted a survey there. You can try to search for data gathered by other organizations, such as the World Health Organization.
Q. Why is this data important?
In 2000, the world’s leaders gathered at a special United Nations summit to pledge their support for the Millennium Development Goals (http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/). These eight ambitious goals outline a plan to eliminate poverty worldwide, and to help improve the health and well-being of youth everywhere. But before they can help young people, governments and international organizations need better information to assess their health and education. DHS offers valuable information about youth in many developing countries, which can be used to design and evaluate more effective programs.
Q. What is IYWG?
The Interagency Youth Working Group (IYWG) was formed in 2006. Its mission is to provide global technical leadership to advance the reproductive health and HIV/AIDS outcomes of young people ages 10-24 in developing countries. The IYWG hopes to accomplish this goal by:
- sharing research and programmatic results and lessons on youth reproductive health and HIV/AIDS with the reproductive health, HIV, and youth development communities
- promoting strategies that move promising research findings and best practices into programs and policies
- advocating for greater focus on youth within reproductive health and HIV programs
The IYWG is a network of nongovernmental agencies, donors, and cooperating agencies. IYWG partner organizations are funded by USAID through the Global Leadership Priority (GLP) for Youth. The GLP for Youth strategic plan focuses on knowledge management and dissemination, policy analysis and development, operations and evaluation research, service delivery, and behavior change communication (BCC), as well as the thematic areas of married youth, very young adolescents, and gender.
To learn more, visit the IWYG website: http://www.infoforhealth.org/youthwg/.
Q. Can you tell me more about MEASURE DHS?
For more information about the MEASURE DHS project, please visit our main website: www.measuredhs.com.
Q. Is it possible to get a data set for a particular country?
Yes, but you will receive the entire data set for the country. Before you can download datasets, you must request access as a registered used. Dataset access is only granted for legitimate research purposes. To learn more about requesting access, please visit http://www.measuredhs.com/login.cfm. To analyze data specific to youth, select the age group and filter the data for further analyses.
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