AN ALGORITHM TO ESTIMATE AGE IN WOMEN DURING THEIR CHILDBEARING YEARS

Estimating age in women living in rural areas of Papua New Guinea can be inaccurate and subject to observer bias. Parity is often used, but this means that survey results cannot be used to examine the effect of childbearing on nutrition. We describe a method for estimating age in women independent of their parity developed during studies of women's health in the Wosera Subdistrict of Papua New Guinea. The tool, appro priately modified, may be useful to others conducting surveys requirin g an estimate of maternal age.