about.qmd

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title: "About this Blog"
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## Supporting climate and health research

IPUMS DHS data provide a critical resource to help illuminate the
relationship between climate change and population health. To support
such research, the IPUMS Global Health team received a 2023 supplemental
grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health
and Human Development, or NICHD (3R01HD069471-12S1).

This blog is designed to be a resource for researchers who are familiar
with population health survey data but new to research using spatial
data sources. The blog will introduce spatial data concepts and
demonstrate basic spatial data processing techniques in R.

Additionally, the supplemental grant supports:

-   the integration and dissemination of DHS malaria monitoring data
    (MIS surveys) in IPUMS DHS.
-   the dissemination of displaced GPS coordinates for DHS primary
    sampling units and the addition of new contextual variables to the
    IPUMS data extract system.

These three elements will make it easier to add environmental context to
research using IPUMS DHS surveys and will provide additional data
relevant to disease vector transmission. Combined, they will enhance
researchers' ability to use IPUMS DHS data to understand the impacts of
climate change on health.

#### Additional support

This blog is developed in collaboration with the [Climate Hazards
Center](https://chc.ucsb.edu/) at the University of California, Santa
Barbara and is supported by USAID Cooperative Agreement 72DFFP19CA00001.

The IPUMS research team also receives support as members of the
[Minnesota Population Center](https://pop.umn.edu/) through a grant from
the NICHD Population Research Infrastructure Program (P2C HD041023).

## What is IPUMS DHS?

[IPUMS](https://www.ipums.org) provides census and survey data from
around the world integrated across time and space. IPUMS integration and
documentation makes it easy to study change, conduct comparative
research, merge information across data types, and analyze individuals
within family and community context.

IPUMS is comprised of several individual products, each with different
data sources and content areas. [IPUMS
DHS](https://www.idhsdata.org/idhs/) is one of several [IPUMS Global
Health](https://globalhealth.ipums.org/) products---representative
household surveys, primarily from low- and middle-income countries, that
gather extensive information on health, family planning, living
conditions, and more.

IPUMS DHS specifically facilitates analysis of data provided by [The
Demographic and Health Surveys Program](https://www.dhsprogram.com/)
(DHS), which has been administered in low- and middle-income countries
since the 1980s.

IPUMS DHS harmonizes DHS variables over time and provides comprehensive
cross-survey documentation to make it easier to find and understand DHS
data.

IPUMS DHS data are available free of charge, but users must
[register](https://dhsprogram.com/data/new-user-registration.cfm) with
The DHS Program to gain access. Registered DHS users can enter their DHS
username and password to access data from IPUMS DHS. For more
information about downloading IPUMS DHS data, see the [associated
post](posts/2024-02-02-download-dhs-data).

## How to cite

For a comprehensive guide to citing IPUMS DHS, see the [citation
page](https://www.idhsdata.org/idhs/citation.shtml) on the IPUMS DHS
website.

To cite an individual post on this blog, we suggest the following
format:

> Roberts, F., & Gunther, M. (2024, Februrary 4). *Attaching CHIRPS
> precipitation data to DHS surveys*. IPUMS DHS Climate Change and
> Health Research Hub.
> https://tech.popdata.org/dhs-research-hub/posts/2024-02-04-dhs-chirps/index.html

## Getting help

IPUMS users can find help on the [IPUMS User
Forum](https://forum.ipums.org/) or by contacting IPUMS user support at
ipums\@umn.edu.

## Related work

IPUMS Global Health also houses the [IPUMS PMA Data Analysis
Hub](https://tech.popdata.org/pma-data-hub/), a similar blog focused on
working with IPUMS PMA data in R.