The 2001 Nepal Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) is a nationally representative survey of 8,726 women age 15-49 and 2,261 men age 15-59. This Survey is the sixth in a series of national-level population and health surveys conducted in Nepal. It is the second nationally representative comprehensive survey conducted as part of the global Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) program, the first being the 1996 Nepal Family Health Survey (NFHS). The 2001 NDHS is the first in the history of demographic and health surveys conducted in Nepal that included a male sample. The 2001 NDHS was carried out under the aegis of the Family Health Division of the Department of Health Services, Ministry of Health, and was implemented by New ERA, a local research organization, which also conducted the 1996 NFHS. ORC Macro provided technical support through its MEASURE DHS+ project. The survey was funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through its mission in Nepal. The principal objective of the 2001 NDHS is to provide current and reliable data on fertility and family planning, infant and child mortality, children's and women's nutritional status, the utilization of maternal and child health services, and knowledge of HIV/AIDS. This information is essential for informed policy decisions, planning, monitoring, and evaluation of programs 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 Family Health Division of the Ministry of Health to plan, conduct, process, and analyze data from complex national population and health surveys. The 2001 NDHS data is comparable to data collected in the 1996 NFHS and similar to survey data conducted in other developing countries. This allows for temporal and spatial comparisons of demographic health information. The 2001 NDHS also adds to the vast and growing international database on demographic and health variables. The inclusion of data on men adds to the richness of this data.
