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Home » Topics » Unmet Need » Unmet Need and No Demand Categories (Using unmet need variable to look at breakdown of FP status and no demand)
Unmet Need and No Demand Categories [message #22247] Wed, 17 February 2021 14:23 Go to next message
cgreenba is currently offline  cgreenba
Messages: 18
Registered: October 2017
Member
Dear DHS users,

I am using recent DHS surveys across various countries to look at the breakdown of family planning status among young women. I am looking to categorize women into the following categories: 1) no demand for family planning, 2) unmet need, and 3) met need for family planning. I would then like to further divide the no demand group further into 1) women who do not have demand for planning planning because they are not at risk of pregnancy and 2) women who do not have a demand for family planning because they would like to have another child within the next two years.

It seems like using the new definition of unmet need with the v626a variable, that you can categorize women into the following groups:
1) no demand: v626a=0 (never had sex), v626a=7 (no unmet need), v626a=8 (no married and no sex in last 30 days), v626a=9 (infecund, menopausal)
2) unmet need: v626a=1 (unmet need for spacing), v626a=2 (unmet need for limiting)
3) met need: v626a=3 (using for spacing), v626a=4 (using for limiting)

Would it then be accurate to say that the no demand group can be divided by categorizing women with v626=7 (no unmet need) as those who want another child soon, while the other women with v626a=0 (never had sex), v626a=8 (no married and no sex in last 30 days), or v626a=9 (infecund, menopausal) as those not at risk of pregnancy? Is there another way to get at this distinction? Any help or additional information would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Best regards,
Charlotte
Re: Unmet Need and No Demand Categories [message #22255 is a reply to message #22247] Thu, 18 February 2021 10:56 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Trevor-DHS is currently offline  Trevor-DHS
Messages: 787
Registered: January 2013
Senior Member
Hi Charlotte
I think what you are suggesting would work, but note that the "no unmet need" group (v626a=7) includes:
1) Pregnant women who wanted the current pregnancy
2) Postpartum amenorrheic women (period not returned since last live birth in last 2 years) who wanted the last birth at that time
3) Other women who are fecund and want a child within 2 years
As long as you are ok having all of these in your second category then this should work.
See figure 2 on the following web page: https://www.dhsprogram.com/topics/Unmet-Need.cfm

You can confirm this by looking at the cases in each group and checking the "wantedness" variable for them:
1) Pregnant women (v213 == 1): all cases coded 7 on v626a should have v225 = 1
2) Postpartum amenorrheic women (v215 < 324 [24 months]): all cases coded 7 on v626a should have m10_1 = 1
3) Other fecund women: all cases coded 7 on v626a should have v605 = 1

You can see code of how to construct the unmet need that you could adapt and create your own coding, on the same page linked above. At the bottom of the page you will find general code and survey specific code. I would use the survey specific code, which includes all survey specific coding that we were aware of at the time of writing.
Re: Unmet Need and No Demand Categories [message #22256 is a reply to message #22255] Thu, 18 February 2021 11:43 Go to previous message
cgreenba is currently offline  cgreenba
Messages: 18
Registered: October 2017
Member
Thank you, Trevor! This is very helpful. I will let you know if I have any other questions.

Best regards,
Charlotte
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