Description

For women who had symptoms of a sexually transmitted infection in the past 12 months, STIADPRIVHC indicates whether, in response to an open-ended question, they reported seeking advice or treatment from a private health center for this problem.

Some samples in the "STIAD" series include categories that can be consolidated into a single response. IPUMS-DHS uses supplemental programming to combine these responses in a standard variable while preserving the separate responses in country-specific variables.

Comparability

Apart from universe differences, STIADPRIVHC is largely comparable across samples. Most commonly, this response category is organized under a "Private Medical Sector" header and is worded as "private health center." Samples that significantly diverge from this convention are noted below. In some cases, multiple categories were consolidated to form a single, more comprehensive response in STIADPRIVHOS, which is ultimately focused on treatment at a private hospital, clinic, or doctor.

Additionally, samples vary in how they asked about sexually transmitted infections. For example, surveys in Phase V forward generally asked whether the woman had any STI, a genital sore/ulcer, and a genital discharge. In Phase III, the surveys mentioned additional infections. Due to this variation, researchers are encouraged to review the Survey Text tab for samples of interest.

Comparability - Standard DHS

An open-ended question about where the woman sought advice/treatment for an STI is included in Phases III, V, and VI in the standard DHS questionnaire.

Although response in this variable are country-specific and not included in the standard DHS modules, they are integrated in STIADPRIVHC to increase comparability across samples.

Universe