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The Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition
icddr,b
ISSN: 1606-0997 EISSN: 1606-0997
Vol. 33, No. 2, 2015, pp. 1-11
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Bioline Code: hn15048
Full paper language: English
Document type: Research Article
Document available free of charge
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The Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition, Vol. 33, No. 2, 2015, pp. 1-11
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The validity of birth and pregnancy histories in rural Bangladesh
Espeut, Donna & Becker, Stan
Abstract
Background: Maternity histories provide a means of estimating fertility and mortality from surveys.
Methods: The present analysis compares two types of maternity histories—birth histories and pregnancy histories—in
three respects: (1) completeness of live birth and infant death reporting; (2) accuracy of the time placement of live
births and infant deaths; and (3) the degree to which reported versus actual total fertility measures differ. The analysis
covers a 15-year time span and is based on two data sources from Matlab, Bangladesh: the 1994 Matlab Demographic
and Health Survey and, as gold standard, the vital events data from Matlab’s Demographic Surveillance System.
Results: Both histories are near perfect in live-birth completeness; however, pregnancy histories do better in the
completeness and time accuracy of deaths during the first year of life.
Conclusions: Birth or pregnancy histories can be used for fertility estimation, but pregnancy histories are advised for
estimating infant mortality.
Keywords
Bangladesh; Birth histories; Displacement; Omission; Fertility estimation; Maternity history; Mortality estimation; Pregnancy histories; Validation
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