Overview

Domestic violence poses a direct threat to women and places children at risk. It also has consequences, both direct and indirect, on women's health and well being. For example, women who experience domestic violence are less likely to receive early antenatal care and are more likely to experience pregnancy loss and their children are at greater risk of mortality (see Profiling Domestic Violence: A Multi-Country Study).

Ethical and Safety Guidelines
The DHS is committed to meeting the highest ethical and safety standards for the collection of data on domestic violence.  Accordingly, DHS has provided its own guidelines for the collection of domestic violence data based on the World Health Organization's ethical and safety recommendations for research on domestic violence. (See DHS Domestic Violence Module for DHS "Ethical and Safety Guidelines for Implementing the DHS Domestic Violence Module").