Newsletter

December 1996 - Number 3

About Databases Covered in the FLS Newsletter

The FLS Newsletter covers public-release versions of developing-country survey data collected by projects and centers of the RAND Labor and Population. Currently, three databases are available: the First and Second Malaysian Family Life Surveys (MFLS-1 and MFLS-2) and the 1993 Indonesian Family Life Survey. Other survey data currently in the field or in the planning stages will be covered in detail as those surveys are fielded and the data released to the research community.

The Malaysian Family Life Surveys (MFLS)

The First and Second Malaysian Family Life Surveys are a pair of surveys with partially overlapping samples, designed by RAND and administered in Peninsular Malaysia in 1976-77 (MFLS-1) and 1988-89 (MFLS-2). The MFLS data were described in the first FLS Newsletter (February 1994) and are also described on the FLS home page on the World Wide Web (see below).

The 1993 Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS-1)

The 1993 Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS-1) is composed of a household survey and a community-facility survey conducted in Indonesia in 1993 by the Lembaga Demografi of the University of Indonesia and by RAND. The IFLS-1 was fielded in 13 provinces that encompass approximately 83 percent of the Indonesian population and reflect much of its heterogeneity. The IFLS-1 data were described in the second FLS Newsletter (November 1995) and are also described on the FLS home page on the World Wide Web.

The 1997 Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS-2)

The Second Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS-2) is scheduled for fieldwork in the fall of 1997. Details regarding the IFLS-2 are discussed in the section titled "IFLS-2 Is Under Way".

The Encuesta Guatemalteca de Salud Familiar (EGSF) (Guatemalan Survey of Family Health)

The Guatemalan Survey of Family Health (EGSF) focuses on the health of children under 5 years of age and of women during pregnancy and childbirth. The EGSF includes household interviews in 4,789 households, individual interviews with 2,870 women ages 18 to 35, and a community survey conducted in each sampled community. The sample of communities was drawn from communities with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants in the Guatemala departments of Chimaltenango, Suchitepequez, Totonicapan, and Jalapa. Fieldwork was carried out in a total of 60 communities, 15 in each of the four departments, between May and October 1995. The rural population of these departments is highly heterogeneous with regard to ethnicity, language group (Spanish, K'iche, and Kaqchikel), economic and social structure, climate, and topography.

The interview with individual women takes an innovative, calendar-based approach to collecting information on health problems and treatment during the respondent's last two pregnancies, and for each of the two youngest children (under the age of 5) during the last two weeks before the survey. In the case of child health, the central focus is diarrhea and acute respiratory infection, but data on other types of illness and treatment were also collected. The individual interview also solicited information on respondent's background, marital/relationship history, social ties and social support, economic status (including time use, occupations, limited information on assets, land ownership, and household consumption), health beliefs, a complete birth history, knowledge and use of contraception, and anthropometry on mothers and children.

The community survey included interviews with three key informants and with several health service providers. Key informants provided information on occupations, most common crops grown, wage rates, land tenure arrangements, utilities and community services, community history, and health care providers (including doctors, clinics, and hospitals, but also traditional providers such as curers, midwives, and bone setters). Information provided in the key informant surveys was used to select a sample of all types of health care providers in the communities. These providers were interviewed about their practices, their patients, referrals, and the use of specific treatments. Separate questionnaires were administered to private doctors, Ministry of Health health centers and posts, midwives, and "traditional" practitioners.

These data are expected to be publicly available in the fall of 1997. Inquires about the survey may be directed to Anne Pebley at Anne_Pebley@rand.org or Noreen Goldman at ngoldman@opr.princeton.edu.

The Matlab Health and Socioeconomic Survey Data (Bangladesh)

Omar Rahman of RAND and the Harvard University School of Public Health is the principal investigator for the Matlab Health and Socioeconomic Survey (MHSS), which finished fieldwork in November 1996 and is currently completing data entry and preliminary data checking. The survey collected information on 7,000 resident households, 600 outmigrant households, and 500 village, health, and educational facilities in the Matlab area of Bangladesh. These newly collected data will be linked to already existing prospective information over two decades on the same sample population from the Matlab Demographic Surveillance System maintained by the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B).

The MHSS consists of four distinct modules: (1) the primary survey of 5,000 households in the Matlab surveillance area; (2) a follow-up survey of 2,000 women and their households who were initially interviewed with regard to their health, fertility and nutritional status in the mid 1970s; (3) a survey of 600 outmigrant households who left the Matlab surveillance area in the past decade; and (4) a community survey of all the villages in the Matlab surveillance area along with specific detailed information on health providers/ facilities and educational institutions serving the Matlab area.

With regard to the first three modules, the MHSS has collected detailed survey information at the household and individual level on a variety of topics. These include sociodemographic status, economic status (including full consumption profile and transfer and credit histories); child, adult, and elderly health status; health service utilization and expenditures; complete education, marriage, migration, and employment histories for all sampled individuals; and a full pregnancy history for all women age 15+. In addition to subjective information from questionnaires, objective measurements on health status and cognitive abilities have been collected. Apart from detailed information on household members, comprehensive data were collected on characteristics of all non-coresident kin (parents, spouses, and siblings).

The community module collected detailed information on village characteristics and histories and comprehensive data on quantity and quality of services provided by health and education service providers.

The data are projected to be released publicly in 1998. For further information, contact Omar Rahman, Harvard School of Public Health: mrahman@hsph.harvard.edu.