The survey was undertaken in eight sites of Dhaka City. Of them, four sites were selected in Old Dhaka and four in new Dhaka city area. In each city area, two sites were taken from predominantly squatter (basti) and two from poor areas. A total of 1,825 households were interviewed in the survey. In addition to these households, 283 service providers were also interviewed.

The survey was commissioned by the Australian National University and financed by the AusAID.