Demographic and Health Survey update core questionnaires

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In October 2019, the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS)¹ programme released updated DHS model questionnaires, which will be used during phase 8 of the global survey programme (2019-2023). Countries conducting DHS in phase 8 will collect significantly more data related to nutrition programmes and policies. This is a key achievement for the global nutrition community, given that DHS surveys are conducted in over 90 countries and DHS is one of the most commonly accessed and used sources of nutrition data in the world. Data for Decisions to Expand Nutrition Transformation (DataDENT), an initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, provided essential leadership to nutrition stakeholders in encouraging updates to the DHS nutrition content. This involved the development and submission of 11 nutrition recommendations for consideration, which engendered a high level of engagement from the global nutrition community. As a result, changes have been made to questions in DHS questionnaires relating to breastfeeding counselling, food and cash support for pregnant women, infant and young child feeding counselling, growth monitoring and malnutrition screening, diets of women and young children, and food fortification and iron supplementation. A DataDENT brief² explains the process in full, changes made and potential impact on the nutrition community.