Literal question
Children ever born [Questions B20-B26]
[Questions B20-B30 were asked of women age 12 and older]
How many live-born children has this woman borne? If none, enter "00".
B20. Total _ _
B21. Male _ _
B22. Female _ _
Interviewer instructions
Part B: Characteristics of Individual Household Members
5. Women age 12 years or older
Questions B20 to B30 should be asked only of women aged 12 years or more.
Children ever born alive:
a.) You are required to report information on the number of children ever born alive to women aged 12 years or more. A live born child may be defined as the one who, after separation from its mother, breathes, cries or shows any other evidence of life, such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of involuntary muscles.
b.) Do not use questions such as "mwachembela kangati" which would generally induce the woman to tell you the number of times she had delivered, because you are required to find information on the number of children who were actually born and who at birth were alive. Even if a child died later, as long as it was alive at birth, such a child must be counted. On the other hand, a child who was born dead should not be counted.
c.) On the question of number of children ever born alive to a woman, ensure that all the children a woman gave birth to are counted. You should not include those children who are staying with the woman but not borne by her. For example, a woman may have been married to three husbands and is now living with the third husband. She had one male child with the first husband and this child is living with his father. She had three male children with the second husband and of these three children only one is staying with her and the other two are either staying with their father or grandparents. She had the last born male child from the present husband plus two other female children born by the previous wife the present husband. This woman has only two of all her own children staying with her and two from the other wife from the present husband. The total number of male children ever born alive to this woman should be recorded as "05" and the other number of female children she has borne should be recorded as "00". Thus the total number of children born alive to the woman should be recorded as "05": that is, "05" male children plus "00" female children.
How many children has this woman borne alive?
B21-B22. Number of children ever born alive:
Ask the woman for the number of male and female children she has ever borne alive. Record in 2 digits the number of male children in column B21 and the number of female children in column B22.
Note: Because of lack of adequate space in all relevant columns, the word "Female" has been abbreviated to 'Fem' on the questionnaire.
Make sure that the entries in column B21 and B22 add to the corresponding totals in column B20. If they are inconsistent, verify the entries and correct them accordingly