# IPUMS Demographic and Health Surveys

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA · 2021 · $567,467

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
This proposal seeks continued support to expand a powerful new resource for cross-national health research.
IPUMS-DHS (http://www.idhsdata.org) unlocks access to the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), the
world's primary source of information on fertility, contraceptive use, infant and maternal health, acute illness
and nutrition in young children, infant and maternal mortality, domestic violence, marriage and sexuality,
HIV/AIDS knowledge and prevalence, and gender attitudes in low- and middle-income countries from the
1980s forward. As of our May 2016 data release, IPUM-DHS incorporates 90 DHS surveys and over 2000
integrated variables for 19 sub-Saharan African countries plus Egypt and India—13 more surveys than
promised in the original application. Although the integrated data have only been online for two years, the
project has already attracted over 400 users from 61 countries and 253 institutions. IPUMS-DHS eliminates
multiple barriers to efficient and accurate use of the DHS, but additional work is required to fully realize the
comparative potential of these valuable surveys, which have been fielded in over 90 countries.
The next phase of IPUMS-DHS will address four specific tasks: (1) Expand IPUMS-DHS coverage
geographically, by including remaining sub-Saharan African countries and adding North Africa, the Middle
East, and South Asia, and topically, by harmonizing the challenging anthropometric and calendar variables for
adults and incorporating more country-specific variables; (2) Double the number of units of analysis, facilitating
research on men, couples, and households in addition to currently available data on women, children, and
births; (3) Create contextual variables by linking small DHS geographic units (GPS points) to IPUMS-
International census microdata and other sources of land-use and environmental data; and (4) Provide
additional online tools, such as improved search capacity, a flexible online tabulator, and multi-language
videos and exercises.
The proposed work will be carried out by a team of highly-skilled researchers with extensive experience in data
integration and in substantive research based on the DHS. ICF International (the organization that collects the
original data) will provide expert advice and feedback. The project will employ cutting-edge software
innovations, established metadata standards, and vigorous outreach to the global research community.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10152630
- **Project number:** 5R01HD069471-10
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
- **Principal Investigator:** Elizabeth H Boyle
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $567,467
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2012-05-01 → 2022-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10152630

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10152630, IPUMS Demographic and Health Surveys (5R01HD069471-10). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10152630. Licensed CC0.

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