Using household survey (MICS and DHS) as an additional information for social

policy planning and budgeting, monitoring and evaluation of programmes for children

Parliament of the Republic of KazakhstanAstana, 9 April 2007

Raimbek Sissemaliev

UNICEF, Kazakhstan

For every child Health, Education, Equality, Protection

ADVANCE HUMANITY

What is household surveys ?

• Household surveys are an important source of socio-economic data. Important indicators to inform and monitor development policies are often derived from such surveys. In developing countries, they have become a dominant form of data collection, supplementing or sometimes replacing other data collection programmes and civil registration systems

What is household surveys ?

• Household surveys collect information at the level of households, randomly selected from a list of households (for example, Census)

• Households surveys complement other data sources

• There are different types of surveys with difference foci, e.g.– DHS (Demographic and Health Surveys)– MICS (Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys)– LSMS-type surveys– Informal sector surveys, – Agriculture surveys, etc.

Household surveys in Kazakhstan

• 1995 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS)– supported by USAID and implemented by Macro International and the Kazakh Academy of Nutrition

• 1999 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS)– supported by USAID and implemented by Macro International and the Kazakh Academy of Nutrition

• 2006 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS)–supported by UNICEF, USAID, UNFPA, ILO, UN Resident Coordinator Funds and implemented by the Agency of Republic of Kazakhstan on Statistics

Household Surveys in Kazakhstan

• Demographic and Household Surveys in Kazakhstan (1995, 1999)– collected information from 4 to 5 thousand households – data representative at national level and by the selected regions – Almaty City, West, South, Central, North and East regions– the surveys collected information on maternal and child health and family planning

Household surveys in Kazakhstan

• 2006 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS)– collected information from 15,000 households– data representative at national level as well as for the most of data at sub-national level (14 oblasts and 2 cities of republican significance) – focused on providing a monitoring tool for the World Fit for Children, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), as well as for other major international commitments, such as the UNGASS on HIV/AIDS.

• The world leaders, including President of Kazakhstan, signed the “Millennium Declaration” in 2000 in New York City and by signing this document committed the Governments to monitor the progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs by 2015)

• Most of countries, including Kazakhstan, did not collect key indicators for measuring the progress

• Similarly this happened during the assessment of the Mid-Decade Goals committed by world leaders during the World Summit for Children in 1990

• In response to the above, UNICEF developed MICS as a household survey tool for countries to adopt to fill the data gaps.

Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS)

• To validate data collected within national routine statistics– for example, Maternal Mortality Ratio, Infant Mortality Rate and Under 5 Mortality Rate

• To fill up gaps in monitoring progress towards achieving MDGs and commitments made during the World Summit for Children, i.e. to monitor the situation of children and women in the country

Use of MICS Data

• To provide information for action, where the governments and other key players could and should concentrate its efforts in order to be most effective in improving situation of children and women

• MICS just states on the situation while academia and civil society could make further analysis on the data

• There is a global technical website www.childinfo.org where all the MICS documentation for all countries, including Kazakhstan, are available

Use of MICS Data

Use of MICS data on Child Mortality

Infant Mortality in Kazakhstan

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1985-1994 1989-1998 1996-2005

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Official statistics DHS/MICS

• 2006 MICS revealed a significant progress of Kazakhstan toward Achieving Universal Salt Iodization (92% of households using adequately iodized salt against 29% in 1999 DHS)

• We have figures from producers on volume of iodized salt produced each year and whether those meet the annual needs of the population

• We have information from the Republican SES that in the market only iodized salt is available

Use of MICS data on Salt Iodization

• MICS demonstrated that about 16% of women of reproductive age have iodine deficiency and of those only 1,8% have severe iodine deficiency and most of them are in Pavlodar Oblast.

• The percent of households using iodized salt correlates with prevalence of iodine deficiency in women (iodine excretion with urine among women 15-49 years of age)

Use of MICS data on Salt Iodization

• According to MICS, 16% of children aged 36 – 59 months (complete 3-4 years) attending any organized early learning program

• Almost 40% of 1st grade schoolchildren attended pre-school programme in previous year, and

• About 93% of children 7 years of age attended the 1st grade of primary school

Use of MICS data on Early Education

• The existing system of budget allocations for children ensures their access to primary school.

• As a result of realization of a Law “About Education” that requires mandatory one year pre-school education, two times more children of age 5 – 6 were involved in pre-school education than children of 3 – 4 years of age.

Use of MICS data on Early Education

• HIV/AIDS is often seen as a purely health care system issue

• However, the world looks at HIV as a social problem

• And here we should think about prevention of HIV among young people and protection of rights and non-discrimination and stigmatization of people living with HIV/AIDS

• This is eligible for our country particularly if we look at the current situation with HIV outbreak among children in South Kazakhstan Oblast

HIV/AIDS

• Population knowledge of preventing HIV transmission – 98% heard about AIDS, BUT – only 30% know all the three suggested ways of preventing HIV transmission – over 60% of population agreed that HIV can be transmitted by sharing food or by mosquito bites– 96% of population agree with one of suggested discriminatory statements toward people living with HIV/AIDS

Use of MICS data on HIV/AIDS

• The above data indicate limited knowledge of population on HIV/AIDS and suggest urgent need for action

• “We get what we are paying for”• Very important to look into

planning and budgeting not just for managing outcomes but to look into prevention measures

Use of MICS data on HIV/AIDS

• To include conduct of Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey into Government’s budget plan on a regular basis – every six years

• Within each Ministry to establish working groups to review the MICS data that could be used for monitoring development policies

• To ensure each governmental institution use MICS data for planning and budgeting purposes

• To ensure academia and mass media use MICS and other households surveys data for further analysis

Recommendations

Thank you for your attention !

For every child Health, Education, Equality, Protection

ADVANCE HUMANITY