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Home » Data » Merging data files » Merging HW to IR for Mali DHS IV - Missing HWCASEID
Merging HW to IR for Mali DHS IV - Missing HWCASEID [message #15197] Fri, 15 June 2018 05:01 Go to next message
bcleite is currently offline  bcleite
Messages: 7
Registered: June 2018
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Hi all,

I am using children anthropometrics for Mali DHS surveys. I notice that this information is available, in the Individual Recode (IR), only for the surveys V and VI. I am also interested in this information from the surveys III and IV. For the latter, IV, I downloaded the Height and Weight Scores (HW) and want to match it to the IR so to match with household/mother/children characteristics. Upon downloading it, I learned from the MERGE.DOC document that the variable that merges both datasets is called HWCASEID.

Nevertheless, this variable is not available for that survey's Height and Weight Scores (MLHW41FL.DTA). Has anyone experienced the same issue? Should I merge it with the other variables (hwhhid, hwline or hwlevel)?

Best,
Bruno
Re: Merging HW to IR for Mali DHS IV - Missing HWCASEID [message #15214 is a reply to message #15197] Mon, 18 June 2018 07:10 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Bridgette-DHS is currently offline  Bridgette-DHS
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Registered: February 2013
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Please reference post no. 2538
Re: Merging HW to IR for Mali DHS IV - Missing HWCASEID [message #15218 is a reply to message #15214] Mon, 18 June 2018 09:44 Go to previous messageGo to next message
bcleite is currently offline  bcleite
Messages: 7
Registered: June 2018
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Hi Bridgette,

thank you so much for your answer. One question is still not clear to me -- is then the case that only one child per household is measured in that survey? The DHS Surveys V and VI have multiple children measured at the household level, so merging one height/weight for the entire household does not make sense.

Thank you again for your help and assistance.

Best,
Bruno
Re: Merging HW to IR for Mali DHS IV - Missing HWCASEID [message #15227 is a reply to message #15218] Mon, 18 June 2018 11:25 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Bridgette-DHS is currently offline  Bridgette-DHS
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Registered: February 2013
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Following is a response from DHS Technical Specialist, Shireen Assaf:

The PR file contains height and weight measurement information on all children in the household. If you are trying to merge the HW file to obtain the WHO reference for computing anthropometric measures, you should merge HW with PR. The IR file is the women's file where the unit of analysis is the women and there will be multiple responses for women that have several children. I am assuming your unit of analysis is the child, in that case you should use PR or KR file depending on what you are looking at.

Re: Merging HW to IR for Mali DHS IV - Missing HWCASEID [message #15376 is a reply to message #15227] Sun, 08 July 2018 21:50 Go to previous messageGo to next message
kingx025 is currently offline  kingx025
Messages: 95
Registered: August 2016
Location: Minneapolis. Minnesota
Senior Member
You can save yourself some work (not doing the merging yourself) if you use IPUMS-DHS (available for free at www.idhsdata.org), which has done the merging for you. Selecting children as the unit of analysis (KR file as starting point), and limiting sample selection to the surveys for Mali 1987, 1995, 2001, 2006, and 2012, I see that there are child anthropometric variables for all the Mali samples.

Sometimes for early years, the height/weight data for children are stored in a separate file. IPUMS-DHS staff have merged these separate anthropometric files to the KR child files. We have also merged the mother's file and the mother's household file to each child record (in the KR files) and each birth record (from the BR files). Thus, you can get all the variables you need, from the household, from the mother, from the child file, and from the child biometric data, if you choose children as the unit of analysis in IPUMS-DHS and select the variables you need. Here's the list of variables relating to child anthropometry when children are selected as the unit of analysis (from the KR files): https://www.idhsdata.org/idhs-action/variables/group?id=kida nthro_kidanthro

Look for columns headed with Mali and the survey year. An X means the variable is available in that sample.
You can log in with your DHS user name and password, select the samples and variables you need and the file format you prefer to make a customized data file, and download it to your computer for analysis without doing any merging yourself.

Keep in mind that only children with surviving mothers who participated in the survey are covered if you use the KR file data (use children as the unit of analysis).

Miriam King


Dr. Miriam King
IPUMS-DHS Project Manager (www.idhsdata.org)
Re: Merging HW to IR for Mali DHS IV - Missing HWCASEID [message #15382 is a reply to message #15376] Mon, 09 July 2018 04:54 Go to previous message
bcleite is currently offline  bcleite
Messages: 7
Registered: June 2018
Member
Dear Miriam,

your hint is extremely useful! Thank you so much, it is going to save me a lot of time!

Best,
Bruno
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