Bishoftu, Ethiopia – The USAID-funded 2016 Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS) team began fieldwork in 11 regions today, kicking off the 4th demographic and health survey in the country since 2000. Fieldwork staff will survey over 18,000 Ethiopian households over the next four and half months, collecting data from women and men on a wide variety of issues including fertility and family planning, water and sanitation, malaria, nutrition, child health, mortality, HIV, and domestic violence.

A long-term objective of the Ethiopia survey is to strengthen the technical capacity of the Central Statistical Agency to plan, conduct, process, and analyze data from complex national population and health surveys. Fieldwork staff has recently completed five weeks of training on interviewing, biomarker data collection, field supervision, and data entry. Supervisors from USAID’s Demographic and Health Surveys Program and the Central Statistical Agency will oversee fieldwork to assure the highest quality data collection possible.

USAID Ethiopia Mission Director Dennis Weller attended the fieldwork launch, and commended the stakeholders on the cooperation, which led to the successful launch. Weller also congratulated the survey field workers on the successful completion of training and stressed the importance of the data they are about to collect, saying, “The quality of the data you collect will help to inform decisions that will affect hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians for years to come. They will be used to inform efforts by the Ethiopian government as well as international donors as we all strive together to reduce maternal and childhood mortality, improve nutrition, provide family planning services, and reduce the impact of malaria, HIV, and other diseases.”

The 2016 survey is the result of the ongoing successful collaboration between United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Ministry of Health, the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia, and countless technical partners and other funders, including the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Irish Aid, the World Bank, the Global Fund, UNICEF, UNFPA and DFID.

Fieldwork is scheduled to be completed in May 2016, and initial results of the 2016 survey will be available by the end of 2016, with the full report expected in early 2017.

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About The DHS Program

The Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey is part of USAID’s Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) Program, which provides assistance to countries worldwide in the collection, analysis, and use of data. The primary objectives of the DHS Program are to provide current and reliable data on fertility and family planning behavior, child mortality, children’s nutritional status, use of maternal and child health services, knowledge of HIV/AIDS, and prevalence of HIV/AIDS and anemia. A long-term objective of the DHS Program is to strengthen the technical capacity of local implementing agencies to plan, conduct, process, and analyze data from complex national population and health surveys.

See also

Press Release EDHS Launch 1-18-16 [pdf, 47kb]

Mission Director Remarks EDHS Launch 1-18-16 [pdf, 107kb]