SURVEY BOUNDARIES & INDICATOR DATA

Since 1984, The DHS Program has provided technical assistance to more than 400 surveys in over 90 countries, advancing global understanding of health and population trends in developing countries. DHS has earned a worldwide reputation for collecting and disseminating accurate, nationally representative data on fertility, family planning, maternal and child health, gender, HIV/AIDS, malaria, and nutrition. The information is processed and presented in reports and data formats that describe the situation of the relevant country. Details on The DHS Program standard procedures, methodologies, and manuals can be found here.

MODELED SURFACES

The DHS Program provides a standard set of spatially modeled map surfaces for recent population-based survey. Each modeled surfaces is produced using standardized geostatistical methods, publically available DHS data, and a standardized set of covariates across countries. Each map package contains a mean estimate surface, an uncertainty surface, and corresponding information on the model creation process and validation. Not all indicators are available for all countries, depending on availability of appropriate data inputs in any particular survey.

For more information on the modeling methods, refer to Spatial Analysis Report 11. For more information on the use of these surfaces in decision making, refer to Spatial Analysis Report 14.

GEOSPATIAL COVARIATES

The geospatial covariate datasets link survey cluster locations to ancillary data - known as covariates – that contain data on topics including population, climate, and environmental factors. This allows individuals with limited Geographic Information Systems (GIS) experience to conduct geospatial statistical analysis without having to manually source and link these covariates to cluster locations. These covariates are extracted from freely available global datasets. The covariates are packaged as a zip and include a .csv data file and a data description PDF file that defines each of the included covariates. See the included documentation PDF for more information about how the data was extracted and the sources that were used. For information about earlier covariate dataset releases, see the First Edition or Second Edition of the documentation.

POPULATION ESTIMATES

Over the past six decades, the U.S. Census Bureau has worked in over 100 countries to provide both short- and long-term technical assistance on a wide variety of topics related to censuses, surveys, and information systems. The U.S. Census Bureau has an innovative program to develop global, subnational population data and maps for use in international humanitarian relief and disaster planning. The data from the U.S. Census Bureau provides subnational 5-year age/sex group population estimates and projections for 2000-2015 for designated countries in the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program.