The Government of Sierra Leone, through the Ministry of Health and Sanitation and Statistics Sierra Leone (Stats SL), together with its development partners, conducted the 2019 Sierra Leone Demographic and Health Survey (2019 SLDHS).
The SLDHS provides an opportunity to inform policy and provide data for planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of national health programmes. It is designed to provide up-to-date information on health indicators, including nutritional status of children, early childhood and maternal mortality, maternal and child health, fertility levels, nuptiality, sexual activity, fertility preferences, awareness and use of family planning methods, breastfeeding practices, awareness and behaviours regarding HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections and prevalence of HIV.
The SLDHS is conducted every five years in Sierra Leone. The first survey was conducted in 2008 and the second in 2013. Although the next one was planned for 2018, actual data collection took place in early 2019; hence, the survey is appropriately named the 2019 SLDHS.
This report presents the final results of survey. Key findings include a decline in fertility rates and improvement in nutrition indicators, such as stunting, wasting and underweight. Details of maternal and child health care indicators also suggest improvement. Details of other indicators including maternal and child can be found in the Key Indicator Report (KIR).
On behalf of the Government of Sierra Leone, Stats SL wishes to express appreciation to all those involved in the implementation of the 2019 SLDHS in various ways, including financial and technical support, and in the preparation of this DHS report. Special thanks go to the following:
▪ The Government and the people of Sierra Leone for providing the funding and the environment to support the survey;
▪ The World Bank, Department for International Development (DFID), and the local U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in Sierra Leone, for contributing funds to organise and conduct the 2019 SLDHS;
▪ World Health Organisation (WHO), Global Fund, and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), for providing additional funds;
▪ National Aids Secretariat (NAS) and the Central Public Health Reference Laboratory (CPHRL) of the Ministry of Health and Sanitation for providing funds and technical support, respectively, in the implementation of biomarker collection and HIV testing, storage and analyses; and
▪ ICF, for providing technical support, training of fieldwork staff, consultations, recommendations and analyses of the data collected.
The DHS would not have been possible without the good work and dedication of the project staff at various levels of expertise. In particular, we wish to express our appreciation to the supervising director, national coordinator, regional and district coordinators, biomarker monitors and data managers, supervisors, interviewers, nurses, HIV counsellors and support staff for their active participation in and contribution to this work. Above all, we appreciate the cooperation of all of the survey respondents countrywide who have made the 2019 SLDHS a success.
Prof Osman Sankoh (Mallam O)
Statististician General/CEO
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. / This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
DOWNLOAD SLDHS 2019 DATASETS
| File Name | File Size | File Format |
SIERRA LEONE 2019 DHS |
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| Births Recode | To understand the data, please download the 2019 SLDHS questionnaire. | ||||||||||
| + SLBR7ADT.ZIP | 5.71 MB | Stata dataset (.dta) | Stats SL is presenting the datasets in various formats to serve the needs of different users: (DO, DOC, SPS, | ||||||||
| + SLBR7AFL.ZIP | Flat ASCII data (.dat) | SAV, MAP, FRQ, FRW, SAS, DAT, DCF) and videos to provide added guidance on how to use the data files | |||||||||
| + SLBR7ASD.ZIP | SAS dataset (.sas7bdat) | via this link:: https://www.youtube.com/user/DHSprogram. | |||||||||
| + SLBR7ASV.ZIP | SPSS dataset (.sav) | ||||||||||
| Types of Datasets | |||||||||||
| Couple's Recode | The types of datasets generated for each survey vary by survey design; however, there are seven common | ||||||||||
| + SLCR7ADT.ZIP | 2.84 MB | Stata dataset (.dta) | types of recode data files associated with the core questionnaires. The three questionnaires: the household, | ||||||||
| + SLCR7AFL.ZIP | 3.15 MB | Flat ASCII data (.dat) | the woman’s and the men’s; from an analytical point of view, contain the analytical units of: household | ||||||||
| + SLCR7ASD.ZIP | - | SAS dataset (.sas7bdat) | information,household member’s information, women’s information, children’s information (of the interviewed | ||||||||
| + SLCR7ASV.ZIP | 3.25 MB | SPSS dataset (.sav) | women), and men’s information. Further, the children’s information exists in two groups – basic data for all | ||||||||
| children of a woman, and more in depth information for children born in the last five years. And then, where | |||||||||||
| Fieldworker Questionnaire | possible, individual men and woman are matched into couples. | ||||||||||
| + SLFW7A.ZIP | 5.20 KB | Hierarchical ASCII data (.dat) | And if an HIV test was done, there are the HIV results. Thus, in practice, there are 8 data files: | ||||||||
| + SLFW7ADT.ZIP | 6.46 KB | Stata dataset (.dta) | - Household file (HR) | ||||||||
| + SLFW7AFL.ZIP | 9.75 KB | Flat ASCII data (.dat) | - Household file (HR) | ||||||||
| + SLFW7ASD.ZIP | 7.10 KB | SAS dataset (.sas7bdat) | - Women’s file (IR) | ||||||||
| + SLFW7ASV.ZIP | 7.73 KB | SPSS dataset (.sav) | - All Births file (BR) | ||||||||
| - Children born in the 5 years prior to the interview, or kids file (KR) | |||||||||||
| Household Recode | - Men’s file (MR) | ||||||||||
| + SLHR7ADT.ZIP | 6.04 KB | Stata dataset (.dta) | - Couple’s file (CR) | ||||||||
| + SLHR7AFL.ZIP | - | Flat ASCII data (.dat) | |||||||||
| + SLHR7ASD.ZIP | 8.65 MB | SAS dataset (.sas7bdat) | Household Data - Household Recode (HR) | ||||||||
| + SLHR7ASV.ZIP | - | SPSS dataset (.sav) | This dataset has one record for each household. It includes household member's roster but no information | ||||||||
| from the individual women/men questionnaires is present in this file. The unit of analysis (case) in this file | |||||||||||
| Individual Recode | is the household. | ||||||||||
| + SLIR7A.ZIP | - | Hierarchical ASCII data (.dat) | |||||||||
| + SLIR7ADT.ZIP | - | Stata dataset (.dta) | Household Listing Data - Household Member Recode (PR) | ||||||||
| + SLIR7AFL.ZIP | - | Flat ASCII data (.dat) | This dataset has one record for every household member. It includes variables like sex, age, education, | ||||||||
| + SLIR7ASD.ZIP | - | SAS dataset (.sas7bdat) | orphan hood, height and weight measurement, hemoglobin, etc. It also includes the characteristics of the | ||||||||
| + SLIR7ASV.ZIP | 10.54 MB | SPSS dataset (.sav) | households where the individual lives. The unit of analysis (case) in this file is the household member. | ||||||||
| Children's Recode | Individual Woman's Data - Individual Recode (IR) | ||||||||||
| + SLKR7ADT.ZIP | - | Stata dataset (.dta) | This dataset has one record for every eligible woman as defined by the household schedule. It contains | ||||||||
| + SLKR7AFL.ZIP | 3.39 MB | Flat ASCII data (.dat) | all the data collected in the woman's questionnaire plus some variables from the household. Up to 20 | ||||||||
| + SLKR7ASD.ZIP | 4.81 MB | SAS dataset (.sas7bdat) | births in the birth history, and up to 6 children under age 5, for whom pregnancy and postnatal care as well | ||||||||
| + SLKR7ASV.ZIP | 3.86 MB | SPSS dataset (.sav) | as immunization and health data were collected, can be found in the file. The fertility and mortality | ||||||||
| programs distributed by DHS use this file for data input. The unit of analysis (case) in this file is the woman. | |||||||||||
| Men's Recode | |||||||||||
| + SLMR7A.ZIP | 1.66 MB | Hierarchical ASCII data (.dat) | Man's Data - Male Recode (MR) | ||||||||
| + SLMR7ADT.ZIP | 1.38 MB | Stata dataset (.dta) | This dataset has one record for every eligible man as defined by the household schedule. It contains all the | ||||||||
| + SLMR7AFL.ZIP | 1.56 MB | Flat ASCII data (.dat) | data collected in the man's questionnaire plus some variables from the household. The unit of analysis | ||||||||
| + SLMR7ASD.ZIP | 2.1 MB | SAS dataset (.sas7bdat) | (case) in this file is the man. | ||||||||
| + SLMR7ASV.ZIP | 1.64 MB | SPSS dataset (.sav) | |||||||||
| Couple's Data - Couple's Recode (CR) |
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| Household Member Recode | This dataset has one record for every couple. It contains data for married or living together men and woman | ||||||||||
| + SLPR7ADT.ZIP | 4.38 MB | Stata dataset (.dta) | who both declared to be married (living together) to each other and with completed individual interviews | ||||||||
| + SLPR7AFL.ZIP | 4.85 MB | Flat ASCII data (.dat) | (questionnaires). Essentially the file is the result of linking the two files previously described based on whom | ||||||||
| + SLPR7ASD.ZIP | 8.04 MB | SAS dataset (.sas7bdat) | they both declared as partners. The unit of analysis (case) in this file is the couple. | ||||||||
| + SLPR7ASV.ZIP | 7.19 MB | SPSS dataset (.sav) | |||||||||
| Children's Data - Children's Recode (KR) | |||||||||||
| EXT | DESCRIPTION OF FILE EXTENSION | This dataset has one record for every child of eligible women, born in the last five years. It contains the | |||||||||
| DAT | ASCII DATA | information related to the child's pregnancy and postnatal care and immunization and health. The data for the | |||||||||
| DCF | CSPRO DICTIONARY | mother of each of these children is included. This file is used to look at child health indicators such as | |||||||||
| DCT | STATA DICTIONARY FILE (SYNTAX) | immunization coverage, vitamin A supplementation, and recent occurrences of diarrhea, fever, and cough | |||||||||
| DO | STATA .DO SYNTAX FILE | for young children and treatment of childhood diseases. The unit of analysis (case) in this file is the children | |||||||||
| DOC | MICROSOFT WORD DOCUMENT WITH | of women born in the last 5 years (0-59 months). | |||||||||
| COUNTRY INFORMATION | |||||||||||
| DTA | STATA SYSTEM DATA FILE | Births' Data - All Children's Recode (BR) | |||||||||
| FRQ | UNWEIGHTED FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION | This dataset has one record for every child ever born of eligible women. Essentially, it is the full birth history | |||||||||
| (OPEN WITH A TEXT EDITOR) | of all women interviewed including its information on pregnancy and postnatal care as well as immunization | ||||||||||
| FRW | WEIGHTED FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION | and health for children born in the last 5 years. Data for the mother of each of these children is also | |||||||||
| (OPEN WITH A TEXT EDITOR) | included. This file can be used to calculate health indicators as well as fertility and mortality rates. The unit of | ||||||||||
| MAP | FILE LAYOUT OR CODEBOOK (OPEN | analysis (case) in this file is the children ever born of eligible women. | |||||||||
| WITH A TEXT EDITOR) | |||||||||||
| SAS | SAS DATA DESCRIPTION FILE (SYNTAX) | Other Information | |||||||||
| SAV | SPSS STATISTICS SYSTEM DATA FILE | + Sierra Leone Demographic and Health Survey 2019 Report (SLDHS 2019) | |||||||||
| SAS7BDAT | SAS SYSTEM FILE - VERSION 8 | + Sierra Leone Demographic and Health Survey 2019 Key Findings | |||||||||
| SPS | SPSS DATA DESCRIPTION FILE (SYNTAX) | + Sierra Leone Demographic and Health Survey 2019 Infographic | |||||||||