Publish Date: March 2016
Author: Alex Ergo, Julie Ritter, Davidson R Gwatkin, Nancy Binkind
Piggy-backing on an existing representative household survey that includes an asset index, it is possible to assess the socioeconomic distribution of program beneficiaries at low cost. The typically large number of questions used to construct the asset index, however, deters many implementers from adopting this approach.
This Global Health: Science and Practice article highlights a study demonstrating that the number of questions can be significantly reduced to a subset that takes only a few minutes to administer without substantially altering findings or policy recommendations. The relevant subset is country-specific and thus necessitates tailored country questionnaires.
Measurement of Health Program Equity Made Easier: Validation of a Simplified Asset Index Using Program Data From Honduras and Senegal (824 downloads )