ASABA/Nigeria: The National Population Commission has commenced the 2018 round of the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) programme in Asaba.
The State Director of NDHS, Mr Sunday Enwelim who made this known in Asaba, stated that the commission had already enumerated four clusters in the state and that the survey commenced since August 15 and would last till December 15, 2018 in all the states of the Federation.
According to Mr Enwelim, the NDHS was part of the Worldwide Demographic and Health Surveys Programme conducted periodically in countries and designed to provide data for monitoring population and health situation across the globe.
He revealed that the 2018 NDHS was the sixth to be conducted in Nigeria since 1990, saying that this year’s exercise in Nigeria was a national sample.
“It is designed to provide up to date information and reliable estimates of the fertility levels and preferences, awareness and use of family planning methods, breastfeeding practices, nutritional status of mothers and child health, knowledge and behaviour regarding HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), female genital cutting, fistula and domestic violence,” the NDHS Director said.
He also stated that the 2018 survey would provide estimate of anaemia and malaria prevalence among children between 6-59 months and adults and sickle cell disease patients.
Explaining further, the 2018 NDHS Coordinator, South South Zone, Nigeria Demographic and Health Survestated that a complete listing of household had been carried out in each of the 1,400 selected enumerated areas (EAs) in the country and that a representative sample of approximately 42,000 households had been selected for the survey, saying that 14, 000 households was a selected
He also stated that the survey would focus on women between 15-49 years living in all selected households and men of age bracket 15-59 years living in the selected household, saying that the data collected would be used by programme managers and policy makers to evaluate and improve existing programmes.
