The 1993 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS) is a nationally representative survey of 4,562 women age 15-49 and 1,302 men age 15-59. The survey is designed to furnish policymakers, planners and program managers with factual, reliable and up-to-date information on fertility, family planning and the status of maternal and child health care in the country. The survey, which was carried out by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), marks Ghana's second participation in the worldwide Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) program. The principal objective of the 1993 GDHS is to generate reliable and current information on fertility, mortality, contraception and maternal and child health indicators. Such data are necessary for effective policy formulation as well as program design, monitoring and evaluation. The 1993 GDHS is, in large measure, an update to the 1988 GDHS. Together, the two surveys provide comparable information for two points in time, thus allowing assessment of changes and trends in various demographic and health indicators over time. Long-term objectives of the survey include (i) strengthening the capacity of the Ghana Statistical Service to plan, conduct, process and analyze data from a complex, large-scale survey such as the Demographic and Health Survey, and (ii) contributing to the ever-expanding international database on demographic and health-related variables.

Abstract

The 1993 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS) is a nationally representative survey of 4,562 women age 15-49 and 1,302 men age 15-59. The survey is designed to furnish policymakers, planners and program managers with factual, reliable and up-to-date information on fertility, family planning and the status of maternal and child health care in the country. The survey, which was carried out by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), marks Ghana's second participation in the worldwide Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) program.

The principal objective of the 1993 GDHS is to generate reliable and current information on fertility, mortality, contraception and maternal and child health indicators. Such data are necessary for effective policy formulation as well as program design, monitoring and evaluation. The 1993 GDHS is, in large measure, an update to the 1988 GDHS. Together, the two surveys provide comparable information for two points in time, thus allowing assessment of changes and trends in various demographic and health indicators over time.

Long-term objectives of the survey include (i) strengthening the capacity of the Ghana Statistical Service to plan, conduct, process and analyze data from a complex, large-scale survey such as the Demographic and Health Survey, and (ii) contributing to the ever-expanding international database on demographic and health-related variables.

Geographic coverage

National

Analysis unit

• Household
• Children under five years
• Women age 15-49
• Men age 15-59

Kind of data

Sample survey data

Sampling procedure

The 1993 GDHS is a stratified, self-weighting, nationally representative sample of households chosen from 400 Enumeration Areas (EAs). The 1984 Population Census EAs constituted the sampling frame. The frame was first stratified into three ecological zones, namely coastal, forest and savannah, and then into urban and rural EAs. The EAs were selected with probability proportional to the number of households. Households within selected EAs were subsequently listed and a systematic sample of households was selected for the survey. The survey was designed to yield a sample of 5,400 women age 15-49 and a sub-sample of males age 15-59 systematically selected from one-third of the 400 EAs.

Note: See detailed description of sample design in APPENDIX A of the survey report.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face

Research instrument

Survey instruments used to elicit information for the 1993 GDHS are 1) Household Schedule 2) Women's Questionnaire and 3) Men's Questionnaire.

The questionnaires were structured based on the Demographic and Health Survey Model B Questionnaire designed for countries with low levels of contraceptive use. The final version of the questionnaires evolved out of a series of meetings with personnel of relevant ministries, institutions and organizations engaged in activities relating to fertility and family planning, health and nutrition and rehabilitation of persons with disabilities.

The questionnaires were first developed in English and later translated and printed in five major local languages, namely: Akan, Dagbani, Ewe, Ga, and Hausa. In the selected households, all usual members and visitors were listed in the household schedule. Background information, such as age, sex, relationship to head of household, marital status and level of education, was collected on each listed person. Questions on economic activity, occupation, industry, employment status, number of days worked in the past week and number of hours worked per day was asked of all persons age seven years and over. Those who did not work during the reference period were asked whether or not they actively looked for work.

Information on the health and disability status of all persons was also collected in the household schedule. Migration history was elicited from all persons age 15 years and over, as well as information on the survival status and residence of natural parents of all children less than 15 years in the household.

Data on source of water supply, type of toilet facility, number of sleeping rooms available to the household, material of floor and ownership of specified durable consumer goods were also elicited.

Finally, the household schedule was the instrument used to identify eligible women and men from whom detailed information was collected during the individual interview.

The women's questionnaire was used to collect information on eligible women identified in the household schedule. Eligible women were defined as those age 15-49 years who are usual members of the household and visitors who spent the night before the interview with the household. Questions asked in the questionnaire were on the following topics:

• Background Characteristics
• Reproductive History
• Contraceptive Knowledge and Use
• Pregnancy and Breastfeeding
• Immunization and Health
• Marriage
• Fertility Preferences
• Maternal Mortality
• Husband's Background and Women's Work
• Knowledge of AIDS and Other Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs).

All female respondents with at least one live birth since January 1990 and their children born since 1st January 1990 had their height and weight taken.

The men's questionnaire was administered to men in sample households in a third of selected EAs. An eligible man was 15-59 years old who is either a usual household member or a visitor who spent the night preceding the day of interview with the household.

Topics enquired about in the men's questionnaire included the following: - Background Characteristics - Reproductive History - Contraceptive Knowledge and Use - Marriage - Fertility Preferences - Knowledge of AIDS and Other STDs.

Cleaning operations

Questionnaires from the field were sent to the secretariat at the Head Office for checking and office editing. The office editing, which was undertaken by two officers, involved correcting inconsistencies in the questionnaire responses and coding open-ended questions. The questionnaires were then forwarded to the data processing unit for data entry. Data capture and verification were undertaken by four data entry operators. Nearly 20 percent of the questionnaires were verified. This phase of the survey covered four and a half months - that is, from mid-October, 1993 to the end of February, 1994.

After the data entry, three professional staff members performed the secondary editing of questionnaires that were flagged either because entries were inconsistent or values of specific variables were out of range or missing. The secondary editing was completed on 17th March, 1994 and the tables for the preliminary report were generated on 18th March, 1994. The software package used for the data processing was the Integrated System for Survey Analysis (ISSA).

Response rate

A sample of 6,161 households was selected, from which 5,919 households were contacted for interview. Interviews were successfully completed in 5,822 households, indicating a household response rate of 98 percent. About 3 percent of selected households were absent during the interviewing period, and are excluded from the calculations of the response rate.

Even though the sample was designed to yield interviews with nearly 5,400 women age 15-49 only 4,700 women were identified as eligible for the individual interview. Individual interviews were successfully completed for 4,562 eligible women, giving a response rate of 97 percent. Similarly, instead of the expected 1,700 eligible men being identified in the households only 1,354 eligible men were found and 1,302 of these were successfully interviewed, with a response rate of 96 percent.

The principal reason for non-response among eligible women and men was not finding them at home despite repeated visits to the households. However, refusal rates for both eligible women and men were low, 0.3 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively.

Note: See summarized response rates in Table 1.1 of the survey report.

Sampling error estimates

The results from sample surveys are affected by two types of errors, non-sampling error and sampling error. Non-sampling error is due to mistakes made in carrying out field activities, such as failure to locate and interview the correct household, errors in the way the questions are asked, misunderstanding on the part of either the interviewer or the respondent, data entry errors, etc. Although efforts were made during the design and implementation of the 1993 GDHS to minimize this type of error, non-sampling errors are impossible to avoid and difficult to evaluate statistically.

Sampling errors, on the other hand, can be measured statistically. The sample of eligible women selected in the 1993 GDHS is only one of many samples that could have been selected from the same population, using the same design and expected size. Each one would have yielded results that differed somewhat from the actual sample selected. The sampling error is a measure of the variability between all possible samples; although it is not known exactly, it can be estimated from the survey results.

Sampling error is usually measured in terms of standard error of a particular statistic (mean, percentage, etc.), which is the square root of the variance of the statistic. The standard error can be used to calculate confidence intervals within which, apart from non-sampling errors, the true value for the population can reasonably be assumed to fall. For example, for any given statistic calculated from a sample survey, the value of that same statistic as measured in 95 percent of all possible samples with the same design (and expected size) will fall within a range