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Calculating Undernutrition Indicators for Under-5 Children in Older surveys [message #28630]

Fri, 09 February 2024 08:40

Adetunji
Messages: 4
Registered: August 2023

Member

Hi,

I am working on the coexisting forms of malnutrition in under-5 children in SSA. Using the KR file in the newer surveys DHS-V upward, I have successfully computed the indicators of undernutrition and their coexistence respectively. I used the variables hw71, hw71 and hw72 for my computation. However, these variables are not found in the same KR file in DHS-IV downward.

Kindly advise on what I should do. My unit of analysis remains the under-5 children.

Thanks in anticipation of your help.

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Re: Calculating Undernutrition Indicators for Under-5 Children in Older surveys [message #28647 is a reply to message #28630]

Tue, 13 February 2024 16:30

Janet-DHS
Messages: 698
Registered: April 2022

Senior Member

Following is a response from DHS staff member, Tom Pullum:

The older surveys that had anthropometry have hw5, hw8, and hw11 in the KR file instead of hw70, hw71, hw72. Those variables were based on an earlier CDC standard rather than the current WHO standard. (Those variables are still included in the data files but are hardly ever used.)

You should be able to find an HW file (the file name has "HW" in place of "KR") for such surveys. You just have to merge it with the KR file from the same survey. Let us know if you have difficulty doing this.

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Re: Calculating Undernutrition Indicators for Under-5 Children in Older surveys [message #28652 is a reply to message #28647]

Wed, 14 February 2024 05:42

Adetunji
Messages: 4
Registered: August 2023

Member

Thanks Janet for your response.

I got the HW file and I should be able to merge with the KR file accordingly. My concern is that is there any adjustment to be made to this data to make them comparable to the current WHO standard in the most recent surveys?

I am interested in constructing the indices of malnutrition over the range of the cross-sections. I have successfully done for the recent surveys but I am stuck with the older surveys and I want to get it right at this stage.

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Re: Calculating Undernutrition Indicators for Under-5 Children in Older surveys [message #28659 is a reply to message #28652]

Thu, 15 February 2024 16:31

Janet-DHS
Messages: 698
Registered: April 2022

Senior Member

Following is a response from DHS staff member, Tom Pullum:

The formulas for the WHO Child Growth Standards (https://www.who.int/tools/child-growth-standards) have not changed since 2006. The only part of the standards that DHS uses to construct hw70-hw72 are weight, height/length, and whether the child was standing (height) or lying (length) at the time of measurement. The assumptions, cutoffs, etc., are all consistent with WHO standards. We have had several reports related to the quality of the anthropometric data (see our publications page) and there is good evidence of improved measurement, especially of height/length, in the past 6 years or so. With the HW files you can get the values that would have been calculated in earlier years if the formulas had been available in earlier years. If you go back to the earliest years of DHS, however, there was no anthropometry at all.

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