Capstone Projects

Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo Sexual and Reproductive Health Services Data Analysis

Program: Data Science Master's
Host Company: Save the Children
Location: Connecticut (onsite)
Student: Maxwell Pearson

This paper presents analysis of sexual and reproductive health survey data from the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), provided and originally gathered by the INGO Save the Children along with organizational partners. RStudio and Microsoft Power BI were used to analyze access to, attitudes toward, and use of contraceptive methods among the 1,092 survey respondents in two DRC health zones, Masisi and Mweso. The analysis found a number of predictive factors for contraception use, including educational background, marital status, and having previously given birth. Additional analysis explored various reasons respondents gave for not using family planning. Additionally, a brief literature review with applications from the field of data science demonstrates the need for increased and varied data use and presentation in order to improve sexual and reproductive health outcomes and care, particularly in humanitarian contexts and prolonged conflict settings such as the Eastern DRC.