The measurement of neonatal mortality: how reliable is Demographic and Household Survey Data?
The measurement of neonatal mortality: how reliable is Demographic and Household Survey Data?
It is estimated that, on a global scale, neonatal deaths now contribute to nearly 40% of all mortality in children under the age of five. However, as most neonatal deaths occur at home in countries with no vital registration, estimates of mortality are normally based on large national surveys such as the Demographic and Household Surveys (DHS). However, these have major limitations which restrict their accuracy.This study explores the potential contribution of DHS data in improving knowledge of trends in neonatal mortality in developing countries. It analyses the potential causes and extent of both sampling and non-sampling errors using review of existing literature as well as original analysis. The study suggests that one of the greatest limitations for DHS data is the wide confidence intervals. This makes it impossible to use DHS data to detect relatively small changes over time. While analysis suggests that in most countries data on neonatal mortality conform to expected patterns, there is also some evidence of age-heaping and back-dating of deaths
neonatal, demographic surveys, mortality measurement, data quality, data reporting, developing countries
University of Southampton
Neal, Sarah
2b63ebf7-1cf9-423d-80a2-bd99a759f784
McGowan, Teresa
4524e894-04de-4822-8508-f4b966e12ae2
1 July 2012
Neal, Sarah
2b63ebf7-1cf9-423d-80a2-bd99a759f784
McGowan, Teresa
4524e894-04de-4822-8508-f4b966e12ae2
Neal, Sarah
,
McGowan, Teresa
(ed.)
(2012)
The measurement of neonatal mortality: how reliable is Demographic and Household Survey Data?
(ESRC Centre for Population Change Working Paper Series, 25)
Southampton, GB.
University of Southampton
33pp.
Record type:
Monograph
(Working Paper)
Abstract
It is estimated that, on a global scale, neonatal deaths now contribute to nearly 40% of all mortality in children under the age of five. However, as most neonatal deaths occur at home in countries with no vital registration, estimates of mortality are normally based on large national surveys such as the Demographic and Household Surveys (DHS). However, these have major limitations which restrict their accuracy.This study explores the potential contribution of DHS data in improving knowledge of trends in neonatal mortality in developing countries. It analyses the potential causes and extent of both sampling and non-sampling errors using review of existing literature as well as original analysis. The study suggests that one of the greatest limitations for DHS data is the wide confidence intervals. This makes it impossible to use DHS data to detect relatively small changes over time. While analysis suggests that in most countries data on neonatal mortality conform to expected patterns, there is also some evidence of age-heaping and back-dating of deaths
Text
2012_WP25_The_Measurement_of_Neonatal_Mortality_Neal.pdf
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Published date: 1 July 2012
Keywords:
neonatal, demographic surveys, mortality measurement, data quality, data reporting, developing countries
Organisations:
Social Statistics & Demography, Centre for Population Change
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 345835
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/345835
ISSN: 2042-4116
PURE UUID: 988a32b0-849d-4ee7-aac8-aeaa55b2c0f8
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Date deposited: 05 Dec 2012 14:49
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:34
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