Assessment of the consistency of health and demographic surveillance and household survey data: A demonstration at two HDSS sites in The Gambia

Objective To assess whether an adapted Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) like cross-sectional household survey with full pregnancy histories can demonstrate the validity of health and demographic surveillance (HDSS) data by producing similar population structural characteristics and childhood mortality indicators at two HDSS sites in The Gambia–Farafenni and Basse. Methods A DHS-type survey was conducted of 2,580 households in the Farafenni HDSS, and 2,907 in the Basse HDSS. Household members were listed and pregnancy histories obtained for all women aged 15–49. HDSS datasets were extracted for the same households including residency episodes for all current and former members and compared with the survey data. Neonatal (0–28 days), infant (Results The selected households in Farafenni comprised a total population of 27,646 in the HDSS, compared to 26,109 captured in the household survey, implying higher coverage of 94.4% (95% CI: 94.1–94.7; pConclusion Overall, the adapted DHS-type survey has reasonably represented the Farafenni HDSS database using population size and structure; and both databases using childhood mortality indicators. If the hypothetical proportion is lowered to 85%, the survey would adequately validate both HDSS databases in all considered aspects. The adapted DHS-type sample household survey therefore has potential for validation of HDSS data