Description

For women who had symptoms of a sexually transmitted infection in the past 12 months, STIADPUBVCT indicates whether, in response to an open-ended question, they reported seeking advice or treatment from a public voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) center for this problem.

Users should be careful to distinguish this variable from STIADPRIVVCT (private VCT center).

Comparability

Apart from universe differences, STIADPUBVCT is largely comparable across samples. Most commonly, this response is organized under a "Public Sector" header and is worded as "VCT center" or "stand-alone VCT center."

Samples vary in how they asked about sexually transmitted infections. For example, samples in Phase V forward surveys 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

STIADPUBVCT first appears in Phase III of the Standard DHS questionnaire. Women with a sexually transmitted infection in the last 12 months are asked whether they sought treatment and, if so, are asked an open-ended question about where treatment was sought (e.g., "Where did you seek advice or treatment? Anywhere else?"). The base universe in this phase was women who had a sexually transmitted infection for which they sought treatment in the 12 months prior to the interview.

In Phase IV, women are asked closed-ended questions about whether they sought treatment at specific sources (e.g., "The last time you had (INFECTION), did you seek advice from a health worker in a clinic or hospital?"). Given the conceptual differences between phases, samples from Phase IV are excluded from STIADPUBVCT.

In Phase V, STIADPUBVCT follows the same format as in Phase III. However, the base universe in these phases was women who had a sexually transmitted infection in the 12 months prior to the interview, thus including women who indicated that they did not seek treatment. To increase comparability across phases, researchers may wish to exclude women who did not seek treatment, using the STIADVICE variable (with women who did not seek advice/treatment coded "0").

From Phase VII, this category is listed as "stand-alone HTC center," where HTC stands for HIV Testing and Counselling. Yet, some countries still use VCT.

Universe