Health statistics in MICS and DHS – a gendered perspective

Holly NewbyStatistics & Monitoring Section

UNICEFESA/STAT/AC.219/12

Major household surveys

Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS)– Began in 1984– Supported by USAID with on-the-ground technical

assistance provided by Macro International

Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS)– Began in 1995– Supported by UNICEF– Harmonized with DHS

Gender-related data in MICS and DHS

• More than 100 indicators are available from survey data with the majority of results available by sex and other background characteristics

• Specific modules on women’s empowerment, violence against women and on harmful practices, such as child marriage, and female genital mutilation/cutting

• All datasets publically available so that further analysis may be performed

Health areas (with gender data available)

• Child health– Diarrhoea– Pneumonia– Malaria– Immunization

• Nutrition– Feeding practices– Nutritional status

• Mortality– Under five – Adult **

• HIV/AIDS– Knowledge– Attitudes– Behaviour– HIV testing **

• Additional topics– Fertility preferences

and contraception– Biological measures– Other

Health analysis at UNICEF

Databases:• Over 100 global databases for tracking the

situation of children and women• MICS and DHS key sources of data• Disaggregated (when feasible)• www.childinfo.org

Analysis:• Focus on disparities, disaggregated data

Breastfeeding

Percentage of infants under 6 months old who are exclusively breastfed, by gender

Diarrhea treatment% children under five with diarrhoea receiving recommended treatment, developing

countries

Source: data source MICS, DHS and other national representative sources, published in UNICEF’s report ‘Diarrhoea: Why children are still dying and what can be done’ 2009

Malaria interventions

Girls and boys are equally likely to benefit from malaria interventionsPercentage of children under 5 years old sleeping under insecticide-treated nets and percentage of children under 5 years old with fever treated with antimalarials, by gender, sub-Saharan Africa

Underweight prevalencePercentage of children 0-59 months old who are underweight, by region and gender

Note: Analysis is based on a subset of 75 countries with residence information, covering 81% of the under-five population in the developing world. Prevalence estimates are calculated according to WHO Child Growth Standards. CEE/CIS is not included in this table, as there were insufficient data to calculate prevalence according to WHO Child Growth Standards, 2003–2008. The rural/urban ratio in CEE/CIS, based on the NCHS reference population, is 1.9.Source: UNICEF global databases, 2010.

Underweight prevalenceby gender and income groups

Tanzania

Percentage of children 0-59 months old who are underweight, by gender and wealth quintiles

HIV/AIDS comprehensive knowledge

Percentage of young people 15-24 years old with comprehensive, correct knowledge about HIV and AIDS, by selected characteristics

Health data from a gendered perspective

• There is a wealth of existing data that can be used for advocacy and programmatic insight– Final reports– Data sets

• Disaggregated data can often result in large confidence intervals, thus complicating interpretation of results

• Little disparity seen at younger ages; substantial disparity at older ages

Under-five mortality

Ratio of under-five mortality: Boys to girls, by region

Across all regions, under-five mortality is usually higher among boys than girls

Pneumonia care-seeking

Source: UNICEF’s report ‘Pneumonia the forgotten killer of children’ Data from 67 DHS and MICS, 1996-2003, except wealth index from 32 MICS, 1999-2003

BOYS AND GIRLS SIMILARLY TAKEN TO APPROPRIATE CARE% under-fives with pneumonia taken to an appropriate health care provider

Malaria treatment Proportion under five children, with fever, receiving anti-malarial medicines 2006-

2009

Source: UNICEF global databases 2010