Modelled gridded population estimates for Kasaï Province in the Democratic Republic of Congo version 4.2

This data release provides gridded population estimates (at a spatial resolution of 3 arc-seconds, approximately 100-metre grid cells) for Kasaï Province in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), including estimates for various age-sex groups. The project team utilized Pre-Distribution Registration Survey (PDRS) data from the National Malaria Control Programme (PNLP), which were collected during anti-malarial campaigns across the DRC. Due to the absence of recent PDRS data for Kasaï, we used data from the neighboring province of Kwilu to train our model and made grid-level predictions for Kasaï, using geospatial covariates specific to Kasaï. The modelling was done using a Bayesian statistical hierarchical modelling framework. The approach facilitated simultaneous accounting for the multiple levels of variability within the data. It also allowed the quantification of uncertainties in parameter estimates. These model-based population estimates can be considered as most accurately representing the year 2023. Although the methods were robust enough to explicitly account for key random biases within the datasets, it is noted that systematic biases, which may arise from sources other than random errors within the observed data collection process, remain.