Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey 2010

Three questionnaires were used for the 2010 TDHS: the Household Questionnaire, the Women’s Questionnaire, and the Men’s Questionnaire. The content of these questionnaires was based on the model questionnaires developed by the MEASURE DHS programme. To reflect relevant issues in population and health in Tanzania, the questionnaires were adapted. Contributions were solicited from various stakeholders representing government ministries and agencies, nongovernmental organisations,
and international donors. The final drafts of the questionnaires were discussed at a stakeholders’ meeting organised by the NBS. The adapted questionnaires were translated from English into Kiswahili and pretested from 23 July 2009 to 5 August 2009.

The Household Questionnaire was used to list all the usual members and visitors in the selected households. Some basic information was collected on the characteristics of each person listed, including age, sex, education, and relationship to the head of the household. For children under age 18, survival status of the parents was determined. The main purpose of the Household Questionnaire was to identify women and men who were eligible for the individual interview. The Household Questionnaire also collected information on characteristics of the household’s dwelling unit, such as the source of water, type of toilet facilities, materials used for the floor of the house, ownership of various durable goods, and ownership and use of mosquito nets. Another use of the Household Questionnaire was to identify the woman who was eligible to be interviewed with the domestic violence module.

The Household Questionnaire was also used to record height, weight, and haemoglobin measurements of women age 15-49 and children under age 5, household use of cooking salt fortified with iodine, response to requests for blood samples to measure vitamin A and iron in women and children, and whether salt and urine samples were provided.

The Women’s Questionnaire was used to collect information from all women age 15-49. These women were asked questions on the following topics:
• Background characteristics (e.g., education, residential history, media exposure)
• Birth history and childhood mortality
• Pregnancy, delivery, and postnatal care
• Knowledge and use of family planning methods
• Infant feeding practices, including patterns of breastfeeding
• Fertility preferences
• Episodes of childhood illness and responses to illness, with a focus on treatment of fevers in the two weeks prior to the survey
• Vaccinations and childhood illnesses
• Marriage and sexual activity
• Husband’s background and women’s work status
• Knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour related to HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs)
• Domestic violence
• Female genital cutting
• Adult mortality, including maternal mortality
• Fistula of the reproductive and urinary tracts
• Other health issues, including knowledge of tuberculosis and medical injections

The Men’s Questionnaire was administered to all men age 15-49 living in every third household in the 2010 TDHS sample. The Men’s Questionnaire collected much of the same information as the Women’s Questionnaire, but it was shorter because it did not contain a detailed reproductive history, questions on maternal and child health or nutrition, questions about fistula, or questions about siblings for the calculation of maternal mortality.