London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London WC1E 7HT, UK. kristof.bostoen@lshtm.ac.uk
There are a few sampling methods available to survey households in situations where sample frames are either unavailable or are unreliable. The most popular of these methods is the expanded programme of immunization (EPI) sampling method, which has been used in low-income countries. The purpose of this paper is to explain how mathematical programming can be used to optimize EPI and other household survey sampling methods in these situations.