Description

For women who had symptoms of a sexually transmitted infection in the past 12 months, STIADPRIVDRUG indicates whether, in response to an open-ended question, they reported seeking advice or treatment from a private pharmacy, drug store, or dispensary for this problem.

Some samples in the "STIAD" series include categories that can be consolidated into a single response. IPUMS-DHS uses supplemental programming to combine these responses in a standard variable, while preserving the separate responses in country-specific variables.

For example, a given sample might include multiple categories for different types of private drug sources that could be combined to create a more comprehensive response category. See Comparability for more information on the specific categories combined in STIADPRIVDRUG.

Users should be careful to distinguish STIADPRIVDRUG from STIADOTHDRUG and STIADPUBDRUG, which refer to other, informal drug sources and public, formal drug sources, respectively.

Comparability — Index

Comparability

In addition to universe differences, the wording of responses included in STIADPRIVDRUG varies across samples. Most commonly, samples categorized this response under a "private medical sector" header and labeled it "pharmacy." Some samples, however, combined "pharmacy" with other drug sources, such as "chemist" or "drug store," into a single response.

In other cases, samples separate "pharmacy" and other private, formal drug sources into distinct categories. As STIADPRIVDRUG focuses on all private, formal drug sources, this variable consolidates these categories into a single, comprehensive response. Countries of particular interest, with distinctive wording of responses, are noted below.

Due to the variation in category wording, IPUMS-DHS users are encouraged to review the Survey Text tab.

Additionally, samples vary in how they asked about sexually transmitted infections. For example, surveys in Phase V forward generally asked whether the woman had any STI, a genital sore/ulcer, and a genital discharge. In Phase III, the surveys mentioned additional infections. Due to this variation, researchers are encouraged to the Survey Text tab for samples of interest.

Comparability - Standard DHS

STIADPRIVDRUG first appears in Phase III of the Standard DHS questionnaire. Women with a sexually transmitted infection in the last 12 months are asked whether they sought treatment, and, if yes, are asked an open-ended question about where treatment was sought (e.g., "Where did you seek advice or treatment? Anywhere else?"). The base universe in this phase was women who had a sexually transmitted infection for which they sought treatment in the 12 months prior to the interview.

In Phase IV, women are asked closed-ended questions about whether they sought treatment at specific sources (e.g., "The last time you had (INFECTION), did you seek advice from a health worker in a clinic or hospital?"). Given the conceptual differences between phases, samples from Phase IV are excluded from STIADPRIVDRUG.

In Phase V, STIADPRIVDRUG follows the same format as in Phase III. However, the base universe in these phases was women who had a sexually transmitted infection in the 12 months prior to the interview, thus including women who indicated that they did not seek treatment. To increase comparability across phases, researchers may wish to exclude women who did not seek treatment, using the STIADVICE variable (with women who did not seek advice/treatment coded "0").

Universe