Assessing the evolution of DHS data quality in estimating levels and trends of maternal mortality in Kenya

Kenya, like most developing countries lack reliable vital registration. Knowledge of maternal mortality at a national level depends entirely on DHS surveys that provide information on the number of sisters who died during pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum. While such information remains valuable to assess levels and trends of maternal mortality, incompleteness of siblings’ history data and under-reporting of maternal deaths can seriously distort the estimated result. DHS data quality in estimating levels and trends of Adult mortality in Kenya using siblings’ histories has been documented elsewhere (see Masquelier, 2010). However, little work has been done to study the quality of DHS data in estimating levels and trends of maternal mortality in Kenya.

This paper aims to fill this gap by analyzing the evolution of DHS data quality in estimating levels and trends of maternal mortality in Kenya using the last three KDHS (1998, 2003, 2008-09). We focus on three major aspects: (1) completeness of data for the event; (2) under-reporting and misclassification of the events; (3) the plausibility of the patterns of maternal mortality indicators. We plan to combine the three surveys in order to estimate maternal mortality indicators (Maternal mortality rates, ratios and lifetime risk) between 1990 and 2008.