Popstan Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey 2000

At the World Summit for Children held in New York in 1990, the government of Popstan pledged itself to a Declaration and Plan of Action for Children. Subsequently, a National Programmed of Action for Children was developed and implemented. The Plan of Action also called for the establishment of mechanisms for monitoring progress toward the goals and objectives set for the year 2000. Toward this end, UNICEF has developed a core set of 75 indicators of specific aspects of the situation of children in coordination with other international organizations. A MICS survey was conducted in 1985 to measure progress at mid-decade. The 2000 Popstan MICS survey has been implemented to provide end-decade information on many of the indicators. Information on other indicators will be derived from the vital registration system and various disease monitoring systems.

The 2000 Popstan Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) is a nationally representative survey of households, women, and children. The main objectives of the survey are to provide up-to-date information for assessing the situation of children and women in Popstan at the end of the decade and to furnish data needed for monitoring progress toward goals established at the World Summit for Children and as a basis for future action.

Infant and Under Five Mortality

• Distortions in the MICS data on deaths among children preclude obtaining estimates of very recent mortality rates. The data suggest that the infant mortality rate was 45 per 1000 and the under five mortality rate was 52 per 1000 around 1993.

Education

• Eighty nine percent of children of primary school age in Popstan are attending primary school. School attendance in the South is significantly lower than in the rest of the country at 52 percent. At the national level, there is virtually no difference between male and female primary school attendance.
• More than two thirds of children who enter the first grade of primary school eventually reach grade five.
• The vast majority (88 percent) of the population over age 15 years is literate. The percentage literate declines from 93 percent among those aged 15-34 to 65 percent among the population aged 65 and older.

Water and Sanitation

• Eighty nine percent of the population has access to safe drinking water - 98 percent in urban areas and 78 percent in rural areas. The situation in the South is considerably worse than in other regions; only 31 percent of the population in this region gets its drinking water from a safe source.
• Ninety two percent of the population of Popstan is living in households with sanitary means of excreta disposal.

Child Malnutrition

• Nine percent of children under age five in Popstan are underweight or too thin for their age. Thirteen percent of children are stunted or too short for their age and three percent are wasted or too thin for their height.
• Children whose mothers have secondary or higher education are the least likely to be underweight and stunted compared to children of mothers with less education.

Breastfeeding
Approximately 12 percent of children aged under four months are exclusively breastfed, a level considerably lower than recommended. At age 6-9 months, 25 percent of children are receiving breast milk and solid or semi-solid foods. By age 20-23 months, only 12 percent are continuing to breastfeed.

Salt Iodization

• Seventy eight percent of households in Popstan have adequately iodized salt. The percentage of households with adequately iodized salt ranges from 57 percent in the South to 89 percent in the Central region.

Vitamin A Supplementation

• Within the six months prior to the MICS, 14 percent of children aged 6-59 months received a high dose Vitamin A supplement. Approximately 6 percent did not receive a supplement in the last 6 months but did receive one prior to that time.
• The mother's level of education is related to the likelihood of Vitamin A supplementation. The percentage receiving a supplement in the last six months increases from six percent among children whose mothers have no education to 16 percent among children of mothers with secondary or higher education.
• Only about 12 percent of mothers with a birth in the year before the MICS received a Vitamin A supplement within eight weeks of the birth

Low Birth weight

• Approximately 12 percent of infants are estimated to weigh less than 2500 grams at birth. This percentage is somewhat higher than the average for countries in the region.

Immunization Coverage

• Eighty seven percent of children aged 12-23 months received a BCG vaccination by the age of 12 months and the first dose of DPT was given to 84 percent. The percentage declines for subsequent doses of DPT to 79 percent for the second dose, and 75 percent for the third dose.
• Similarly, 87 percent of children received Polio 1 by age 12 months and this declines to 83 percent by the third dose.
• The coverage for measles vaccine is lower than for the other vaccines at 24 percent, primarily because only about 40 percent of children get the vaccine before their first birthday.
• Slightly over half of children had all eight recommended vaccinations in the first 12 months of life.
• Male and female children are vaccinated at roughly the same rate.
• Vaccination coverage is highest among children whose mothers have secondary or higher education. The education differences are greatest for the third doses of DPT and Polio, suggesting that drop out rates are higher among children with less educated mothers.

Diarrhea

• Approximately six in ten children with diarrhea received one or more of the recommended home treatments (i.e., were treated with ORS or RHF).
• Only 25 percent of children with diarrhea received increased fluids and continued eating as recommended.

Acute Respiratory Infection

• Four percent of under five children had an acute respiratory infection in the two weeks prior to the survey. Approximately 56 percent of these children were taken to an appropriate health provider.

IMCI Initiative

• Among under five children who were reported to have had diarrhea or some other illness in the two weeks preceding the MICS, 16 percent received increased fluids and continued eating as recommended under the IMCI programmed.
• Seventeen percent of mothers know at least two of the signs that a child should be taken immediately to a health facility.

Malaria

• In the areas of Popstan with the highest level of malaria risk, 72 percent of under five children slept under a bednet the night prior to the survey interview. However, only about five percent of the bednets used are impregnated with insecticide.
• Approximately 56 percent of children with a fever in the two weeks prior to the MICS interview were given Paracetamol to treat the fever and 53 percent were given Chloroquine while less than 1 percent were given Fansidar. A relatively large percentage of children (25 percent) were given some other medicine.

HIV/AIDS

• Thirty seven percent of women aged 15-49 know all three of the main ways to prevent HIV transmission - having only one uninfected sex partner, using a condom every time, and abstaining from sex.
• Thirty nine percent of women correctly identified three misconceptions about HIV transmission - that HIV can be transmitted through supernatural means, that it can be transmitted through mosquito bites, and that a healthy looking person cannot be infected.
• Sixty percent of women of reproductive age in [Country] know a place to get tested for AIDS and about 12 percent have been tested.
• The percentage of women who have sufficient knowledge of HIV transmission and the percentage who know where to get tested for HIV increases dramatically with the level of education.

Contraception

• Current use of contraception was reported by 45 percent of married or in union women. The most popular method is the pill which is used by one in four married women followed by female sterilization, which accounts for 10 percent of married women.

Prenatal Care

• Three out of four women with recent births in [Country] are protected against neonatal tetanus. The vast majority of these women received two or more doses of tetanus toxoid within the last three years.
• Virtually all women in Popstan receive some type of prenatal care and 75 percent receive antenatal care from skilled personnel (doctor, nurse, midwife).

Assistance at Delivery

• A doctor, nurse, or midwife delivered about 77 percent of births occurring in the year prior to the MICS survey. This percentage is highest in the South Central region at 99 percent and lowest in the South at 21 percent.

Birth Registration

• The births of 94 percent of children under five years in Popstan have been registered. There are no significant variations in birth registration across sex, age, or education categories.

Orphanhood and Living Arrangements of Children

• Overall, 64 percent of children aged 0-14 are living with both parents. Children who are not living with a biological parent comprise 7 percent and children who have one or both parents dead amount to 4 percent of all children aged 0-14.
• The situation of children in the South differs from that of other children. In the South, less than half of children live with both parents. Thirty six percent live with their mother only although their father is alive and a relatively large proportion (10 percent) are living with neither parent.

Child Labor

• About two percent of children aged 5-14 years engage in paid work. About twice as many - 4 percent - participate in unpaid work for someone other than a household member.
• Slightly more than half of children engage in domestic tasks, such as cooking, fetching water, and caring for other children, for less than four hours a days while 25 percent spend more than four hours a day on such tasks.