ArticleBMC medicine2025
When health data go dark: the importance of the DHS Program and imagining its future.
Article in BMC medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Trends in demographic and health survey publications based on a bibliometric analysis.Global health action · 2026Pooled it
- Correlates of hysterectomy in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review.Journal of global health · 2026Pooled it
- From knowledge accumulation to transformative action: research to catalyze progress on social determinants of health equity.International journal for equity in health · 2026Review
- Where and why malaria persists in heterogeneous transmission settings: insights from routine health facility data.BMJ global health · 2026Article
- Beyond national household surveys: routine and alternative approaches to sustain robust evidence-based decision making.Malaria journal · 2026Review
- Evaluating global health programmes targeting under-5 mortality: problems and recommendations.BMJ global health · 2026Article
- Measuring antenatal care timing and content across 131 low-income and middle-income countries, 1995-2023: a systematic analysis of trends.The Lancet. Global health · 2026Article
- Integration of population-based surveys for neglected tropical diseases: A scoping review.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2026Article
- The richness of urban health realities lost in measurement monocultures.BMJ global health · 2026Article
- Data reuse in global health: perspectives from actors in policy, funding and research.BMJ global health · 2026Article
- In the wake of USAID cuts, we can create a Demographic and Health Survey Program founded on more equitable data infrastructure and stronger research integrity.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Beyond the Demographic and Health Survey: on the past and future of population health surveillance.BMJ global health · 2026Article
- Maternal screening coverage and determinants during facility-based antenatal care in Nigeria: analysis of the 2018 Demographic and Health Survey.Reproductive health · 2026Article
- Article
- The intergenerational legacies of research disinvestment, aid retrenchment and transactional compacts on global women's health.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- Article
- Location of births by health facility type: a time trend analysis from 1995 to 2023 in 130 low- and middle-income countries.EClinicalMedicine · 2026Article
- Low use of data analytics for health sector priority-setting in Ghana: A case for strengthening analytical capacity.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- Enhancing epidemic forecast usability for policymakers: A global mixed-methods study.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
30 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe suspension and/or termination of many programmes funded through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) by the new US administration has severe short- and long-term negative impacts on the health of people worldwide. We draw attention to the termination of the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) Program, which includes nationally representative surveys of households, DHS, Malaria Indicator Surveys [MIS]) and health facilities (Service Provision Assessments [SPA]) in over 90 low- and middle-income countries. USAID co-funding and provision of technical support for these surveys has been shut down. MAIN BODY: The impact of these disruptions will reverberate across local, regional, national, and global levels and severely impact the ability to understand the levels and changes in population health outcomes and behaviours. We highlight three key impacts on (1) ongoing data collection and data processing activities; (2) future data collection and consequent lack of population-level health indicators; and (3) access to existing data and lack of support for its use.
conclusionsWe call for immediate action on multiple fronts. In the short term, universal access to existing data and survey materials should be restored, and surveys which were planned or in progress should be completed. In the long term, this crisis should serve as a tipping point for transforming these vital surveys. We call on national governments, regional organisations, and international partners to develop sustainable alternatives that preserve the principles (standardised questionnaires, backward compatibility, open access data with rigorous documentation) which made the DHS Program an invaluable global health resource.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.