The 2011 Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS) was conducted by the Central Statistical Agency (CSA) under the auspices of the Ministry of Health. The principal objective of the 2011 Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS) is to provide current and reliable data on fertility and family planning behaviour, child mortality, adult and maternal mortality, children’s nutritional status, use of maternal and child health services, knowledge of HIV/AIDS, and prevalence of HIV/AIDS and anaemia. The specific objectives are these: Collect data at the national level that will allow the calculation of key demographic rates; Analyse the direct and indirect factors that determine fertility levels and trends; Measure the levels of contraceptive knowledge and practice of women and men by family planning method, urban-rural residence, and region of the country; Collect high-quality data on family health, including immunisation coverage among children, prevalence and treatment of diarrhoea and other diseases among children under ge five, and maternity care indicators, including antenatal visits and assistance at delivery; Collect data on infant and child mortality and maternal mortality; Obtain data on child feeding practices, including breastfeeding, and collect anthropometric measures to assess the nutritional status of women and children; Collect data on knowledge and attitudes of women and men about sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS and evaluate patterns of recent behaviour regarding condom use; Conduct haemoglobin testing on women age 15-49 and children 6-59 months to provide information on the prevalence of anaemia among these groups; Carry out anonymous HIV testing on women and men of reproductive age to provide information on the prevalence of HIV. This information is essential for informed policy decisions, planning, monitoring, and evaluation of programmes on health in general and reproductive health in particular at both the national and regional levels. A long-term objective of the survey is to strengthen the technical capacity of the Central Statistical Agency to plan, conduct, process, and analyse data from complex national population and health surveys. Moreover, the 2011 EDHS provides national and regional estimates on population and health that are comparable to data collected in similar surveys in other developing countries and to Ethiopia’s two previous DHS surveys, conducted in 2000 and 2005. Data collected in the 2011 EDHS add to the large and growing international database of demographic and health indicators. The survey was intentionally planned to be fielded at the beginning of the last term of the MDG reporting period to provide data for the assessment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The survey interviewed a nationally representative population in about 18,500 households, and all women age 15-49 and all men age 15-59 in these households. In this report key indicators relating to family planning, fertility levels and determinants, fertility preferences, infant, child, adult and maternal mortality, maternal and child health, nutrition, women’s empowerment, and knowledge of HIV/AIDS are provided for the nine regional states and two city administrations. In addition, this report also provides data by urban and rural residence at the country level. Major stakeholders from various government, non-government, and UN organizations have been involved and have contributed in the technical, managerial, and operational aspects of the survey.
