World Health Survey Plus Bangladesh 2023
Wave 1
Bangladesh, 2023
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DDI-BGD-WHO-WHSPLUS-2024-V01
World Health Survey Plus Bangladesh 2023
Wave 1
WHS+ BGD 2023
| Name | Country code |
|---|---|
| Bangladesh | BGD |
World Health Survey [hh/whs]
The World Health Survey Plus (WHS+) is the first wave of the study. WHS+ surveys are designed by the World Health Organization and implemented by national agencies in participating countries.
The World Health Survey Plus (WHS+) is the World Health Organization’s flagship household survey programme, which is hosted by the Survey Unit within the Department of Data and Analytics (DNA) in the Division of Data Analytics and Delivery for Impact (DDI).
The WHS+ is focused on generating data needed to align with shifting data needs in health programming, policy and analysis, while also working to strengthen household survey systems in member countries.
WHS+ builds on WHO’s experience with generating, analyzing and disseminating representative data from household surveys in over 101 countries.
The WHS+ provides a data collection system for countries to monitor their progress towards population health targets, health-related SDGs, and WHO’s impact framework.
The WHS+ will drive measurement of strategic health goals and add value to countries’ data collection.
AIM
The aim of the WHS+ is to generate valid, reliable, comparable and timely information on a range of health and well-being outcomes and determinants of public health importance in nationally representative target populations. The results from the WHS+ will support WHO member states to track progress on country-specific objectives and towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and HR-SDG targets, and WHO’s Impact Framework approved by Member States.
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES
Create a robust multi-functional data collection platform for generating data to monitor progress on national priorities, HR-SDGs and UHC.
Support countries to generate, analyse and use high-quality data to fill data gaps.
Develop standardized, computerized data collection strategies that enable speedier data collection and more reliable comparison across countries.
ADDITIONAL OBJECTIVES
Develop capacities in using evidence for policy
Institutionalize a regular data generation platform in countries
Provide tools and methods for better sequencing and coordination between studies
Pursue improvements in integrating survey data into health information systems
Provide methods for the inclusion of neglected topics and population groups
Build on post-census surveys with up-to-date sampling frames
Introduce a suite of data collection and analysis tools to use alongside National Statistics Offices and the United Nations Statistics Division
CONTENT
HOUSEHOLD QUESTIONNAIRE
0000 Coversheet
0100 Sampling Information
0200 Geocoding/GPS Information
0300 Recontact Information
0350 Contact Record
0400 Household Roster
0450 Household Consent
0460 Migration
0500 Housing
0500 Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
0500 Clean Fuels
0700 Assets and Income
0800 Household Consumption Expenditure
INDIVIDUAL QUESTIONNAIRE
1000 Socio-Demographic Characteristics
1100 Covid-19 Vaccination
2000 Health State Description
2200 Assistive Technology
2500 Anthropometrics, Performance Tests and Biomarkers
3000 Risk Factors and Preventive Health Behaviours-Tobacco Use
3100 Risk Factors and Preventive Health Behaviours-Alcohol Use
3300 Risk Factors and Preventive Health Behaviours-Diet
3400 Risk Factors and Preventive Health Behaviours-Physical Activity
4000 Chronic Conditions and Health Services Coverage
4100 Accidents/Injuries
4500 Antimicrobial Resistance
5000 Health Care Utilisation
6000 Social Networks
7000 Quality of Life (WHOQoL-8)
8000 Preventing Unsafe Abortion
Sample survey data [ssd]
Households and individuals
Version
v0.1: Edited, weighted anonymous dataset for public distribution.
2024-08-31
Scope
The scope of the World Health Survey Plus includes:
HOUSEHOLD: household characteristics, migration, housing, water sanitation and hygiene, clean fuels, household and family support networks and transfers, assets and household income, household expenditure.
INDIVIDUAL: socio demographic characteristics, Covid-19 vaccination, health state, assisitive technology, anthropometrics, performance tests and biomarkers, tobacco use, alcohol use, diet, physical activity, chronic conditions and health service coverage, accidents/injuries, antimicrobial resistance, health care utilisation, social networks, quality of life, preventing unsafe abortion.
| Topic | Vocabulary |
|---|---|
| World Health Survey Plus (WHS+) | Survey |
Coverage
National coverage
The WHS+ will include all male and female adults (18 years of age and older) who are not out of the country during the survey period. It should be noted that this includes the population who may be institutionalized for health reasons at the time of the survey: all persons who would have fit the definition of household member at the time of their institutionalisation are included in the eligible population.
If the randomly selected individual is institutionalized short-term (e.g. a 3-day stay at a hospital) the interviewer must return to the household when the individual will have come back to interview him/her.
The target population includes any adult, male or female age 18 or over living in private households. Populations in group quarters, on military reservations, or in other non-household living arrangements will not be eligible for the study. People who are in an institution due to a health condition (such as a hospital, hospice, nursing home, home for the aged, etc.) at the time of the visit to the household are interviewed either in the institution or upon their return to their household if this is within a period of two weeks from the first visit to the household.
Producers and sponsors
| Name | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| Iqbal Masud | Dhaka Ahsania Mission (DAM) |
| Name | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Mohammed Mukhlesur Rahman | Dhaka Ahsania Mission (DAM) | Survey Manager |
| Mohammad Hayatun Nabi | North South University, Bangladesh | Advisor |
| Name | Abbreviation |
|---|---|
| World Health Organization | WHO |
| Name | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Ravi Shankar | WHO GIS Centre | GIS support |
| Jaouad Tilout | WHO GIS Centre | GIS support |
Sampling
WHS+ Bangladesh used a three-stage stratified sampling approach: first selecting districts, then enumeration areas (EAs) within districts, and finally households within EAs.
Since Bangladesh's 64 districts couldn't all be surveyed for budget reasons, 20 districts were sampled using a stratification approach based on socioeconomic indicators.
To stratify the districts, four socioeconomic indicators were combined (literacy rates for the general population and females, infant mortality, and poverty) into a single composite score using principal components analysis.
Districts were then divided into four strata based on this composite score, with sample sizes of 6, 6, 3, and 5 districts allocated per stratum using an optimization procedure.
Within each stratum, districts were selected using probability-proportional-to-size (PPS) sampling, where household counts were raised to the power of 4/5 to reduce the influence of very large districts.
One special case arose with Dhaka district: because of its enormous size it was included in the sample automatically (with certainty), creating a separate fifth stratum just for Dhaka, and reducing the target sample size in its original stratum from 5 to 4.
After this adjustment, all remaining district probabilities fell within a valid range, and districts were sampled using Pareto PPS sampling implemented in R.
Finally, the total sample of 400 EAs was distributed across the 20 selected districts proportionally to household counts (again using the 4/5 power) to balance statistical precision with even geographic distribution.
For individual interviews, one person aged 18 or older per household was eligible to participate.
The eligible individual was selected with equal probabilities using the CAPI program from a list of eligible household members.
Stages of selection
Strata: 5
PSU: Enumeration Areas=398 surveyed
SSU: Households=6319 surveyed
TSU: Individuals=6319 surveyed
Response rates
response rate=% of households/persons who completed the interviews amongst all eligible households/persons, including those who were not successfully contacted.
Household
Response rate=94%
Individual:
Response rate=94%
Weights
Household weights(variable hhweight) for analysis at household level and individual weights(variable pweight) for analysis at person level were calculated.
Basic household and person weights were computed as the reciprocals of their corresponding selection probabilities, considering all stages of selection.
Basic household weights were then calibrated to population totals by province, locality(urban/rural), sex and age groups (00-14, 15-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70+) according to the 2023 population projections from the WHO Bangladesh Country Office.
Calibration was done on the marginal distributions, using raking, and was such that all individuals within a sampled household would have the same calibrated weight.
Basic individual weights were calibrated to population totals by sex, age-groups (18-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70+), locality(urban/rural) and province according to the 2023 population projections from the WHO Bangladesh Country Office.
Calibration was done on the marginal distributions, using raking.
Weights are not normalised, and their sum over the total sample will return estimates of population sizes.
Where the hhweight and/or pweight has a missing value this is because either the sampling information is missing or the sex, age is missing.
Survey instrument
The WHS+ questionnaires were based on the SAGE questionnaires with many modifications and many new modules.
A Household questionnaire was administered to all households eligible for the study.
An Individual questionniare was administered to eligible respondents identified from the household roster by the CAPI programme.
The questionnaires were developed in English. The CAPI template produced by Survey Solution Designer was translated into Bangla.
The English questionnaires are available as external resources.
Data collection
| Start | End |
|---|---|
| 2023-09-05 | 2023-12-25 |
- Computer Assisted Personal Interview [capi]
| Name | Abbreviation |
|---|---|
| Dhaka Ahsania Mission | DAM |
Fieldwork training was conducted 21-27 August in Dhaka. The pilot study was conducted on 28 August in ward 24, in the South City Corporation municipality the district and division of Dhaka. A debriefing session was held on 29 August.
There were 8 data collection teams. Each team comprised one supervisor, five interviewers, one biomarker collector and one lister giving a total of 64 personnel.
Data collection was carried out from 10 October to 25 December 2023 inclusive. Data collection was suspended on 24 October to observe the Hindu festival of Durga Puja, on 27 October to observe Fateha Yajdaham a Muslim religious day, on 28 October to observe the Hindu festival of Lakshmi Puja and the Buddist festival of Prabarana Purnima. Total of 72 days.
Ten monitoring visits were conducted at Dhaka, Gazipur, Munshigonj, Sylhet, Cumilla, Bhola, Khulna, Pabna, Jamalpur and Kurigram.
All issues pertaining to the CAPI programme used for data collection were resolved by WHO HQ.
Respondents were compensated with a cash voucher of BDT350.
Data processing
Data editing took place at a number of stages including:
(1) office editing and coding
(2) during data entry
(3) structural checking of the Stata data files
Data Access
| Name | Affiliation | URL | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nirmala Naidoo | World Health Organization | https://apps.who.int/healthinfo/systems/surveydata/index.php/collections/WHSPlus | whsplus@who.int |
The user undertakes:
(1) to keep confidential any information concerning individual persons or households.
(2) not to distribute the data to any other user.
(3) to use the data for scientific research only and to be used solely for reporting of aggregated information, and not for investigation of specific individuals or organizations.
(4) to share any planned publications with WHO prior to publication.
(5) to site the source of data in accordance with the Citation Requirement provided with each dataset for any books, articles, conference papers, theses, dissertations, reports, or other publications that employ data obtained from the Multi-Country Studies Data Archive.
(6) to share an electronic copy of all reports and publications based on the requested data with WHO.
The Dhaka Ahsania Mission (DAM) and the World Health Organization bear no responsibility for use of the data or for interpretations or inferences based upon such uses.
"World Health Organization, World Health Survey Plus Bangladesh 2023, Version 1.0 of the public use dataset, provided by the Multi-Country Studies Data Archive https://apps.who.int/healthinfo/systems/surveydata/index.php/collections/WHSPlus"
Disclaimer and copyrights
The data is being distributed without warranty of any kind.
The responsibility for the use of the data lies with the user.
In no event shall the World Health Organization be liable for damages arising from its use.
© World Health Organization 2026
Contacts
| Name | Affiliation | URL | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nirmala Naidoo | World Health Organization | whsplus@who.int | https://apps.who.int/healthinfo/systems/surveydata/index.php/collections/WHSPlus |
Metadata production
DDI-BGD-WHO-WHSPLUS-2024-V01
| Name | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Nirmala Naidoo | World Health Organization | Production |
2024-08-31
Metadata version
Version 1.0 (August 2024)