Midis de la recherche

Bruno Masquelier (DEMO, UCLouvain) 

An evaluation of truncated birth histories for rapid measurement of fertility and child survival

Mortality and fertility estimates from surveys are derived primarily from full birth histories (FBH) in low- and middle-income countries. However, FBH can be long to complete especially where fertility is high, with each child born requiring around ten questions. Truncated birth histories (TBH), where questions are asked only on recent births,  could be a useful alternative when surveys need to be short, like those administered over the phone. Yet the quality of TBH has not sufficiently been assessed. We use 29 Malaria Indicator Surveys from 17 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa to compare full and truncated birth histories. We assess whether the quality of data collected via TBH varies by respondent and interviewer characteristics. We find evidence of extensive underreporting of recent births and deaths, leading to implausibly low mortality estimates, and conclude that caution is needed in using TBH.

Pour assister au séminaire via teams, pour les membres de l'UCLouvain, cliquez ici.

Pour assister au séminaire via teams, pour les personnes extérieures à l’UCLouvain, veuillez contacter ashira.menashe-oren@uclouvain.be ou luisa.fadel@uclouvain.be.