Multiple Indicator Cluster SurveysSurvey Design Workshop

MICS: Past, Present and Future

MICS Survey Design Workshop

Past: Some History

Global household survey programmes

• Since 1970s• Multi-topic, multiple indicator surveys

World Fertility Surveys (1970s, early 1980s)

Contraceptive Prevalence Surveys (1980s)

Demographic and Health Surveys (since 1980s, USAID)

MICS (since 1995, UNICEF) Reproductive Health Surveys (since

1990s, CDC – now discontinued)

Global household survey programmes

• Thematic surveys Living Standards Measurement

Surveys - LSMS (World Bank) Malaria Indicator Surveys – MIS (RBM

Malaria) AIDS Indicator Surveys - AIS (USAID) SMART surveys (Nutrition) others

Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys• Developed by UNICEF in the early 1990s to respond to data needs

for the World Summit for Children Goals

• Since 1995, evolved into an ongoing global survey programme with– collection of data on multiple globally agreed-upon indicator

sets; MDGs, WSC, WFFC indicators…– an institutionalized technical coordination and support system,

including• a Global MICS team with coordinators and survey experts in

New York and all regions– full package of MICS-specific survey instruments

Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys• Face to face interviews, observations, measurements• Representative data based on probabilistic samples• Modular structure of questionnaires, easily customized

to country needs• Low, middle and high income countries

Technical Support and Quality Assurance

• Global MICS Team– UNICEF New York MICS Team– Survey Coordinators in 7 UNICEF Regional Offices

• Global and Regional Experts (20+)• UNICEF Country Offices + UNICEF MICS

Consultant (Resident)• Implementing agencies (NSOs)

Technical Support and Quality Assurance

• Regional Workshops, on:– Survey Design– Data Processing– Data Dissemination and Further Analysis

• On-site and off-site support by UNICEF MICS staff members and consultants

• Standard survey tools – from documents on governance to dissemination of results

• Quality control mechanisms at every step in the survey process

MICS: 1995-2009

• MICS1: 1995–60 countries–Emphasis on World Summit for

Children Goals–Minimum technical support–Global evaluation

MICS: 1995-2009

• MICS2: 2000–59 countries–Emphasis on World Summit for

Children goal– Increased technical support, better

standardization of survey tools

MICS: 1995-2009

• MICS3: 2005-2009–54 surveys–Emphasis on World Fit for Children

Goals, MDGs, and plus–A “system” for quality assurance

and technical support

2010-2012

MICS 2010-2012

• Emphasis on MDGs, other globally recommended indicators, and–Emerging issues: adolescents,

early childhood development, life satisfaction….

• 59 surveys conducted

MICS Surveys by Region: 2010-2012

CEECIS East AsiaPacific

Eastern-SouthernAfrica

Middle EastNorth Africa

SouthAsia

Latin AmericaCaribbean

Western-CentralAfrica

11

7 7 7

5

10

12

Less than 3000

3000-5000

5001-10000

10001-20000

20001-50000

50001 or more

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18

11

6

17

17

3

1

Num

ber o

f Com

plet

ed H

ouse

hold

s

More than 95%

90-95% 85-89% Less than 85%0

5

10

15

20

25

3026

15

96

Completion Rates

Total 59

National 43

Selected population group 4

Selected area/region 12

MICS 2010-2012

MICS Countries – Overview (2010-2012)

• Low and middle/high income countries• Chad, Mali, Costa Rica, Serbia, Qatar, Argentina

• Emergency or post-emergency settings• Somalia, Iraq, Sudan

• New to MICS (Bhutan, Mali), all MICS rounds (Serbia, Gambia), “returning” countries (Moldova, Afghanistan)

Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys Since 1995, more than 100 countries and around 240 surveys*

*As of February 2013 – includes surveys in progress with fieldwork completion in 2013Countries with at least one MICS survey, including sub-national surveys

Period#

Surveys

1995-1999 60

2000-2004 59

2005-2009 54

2010-2012 59

MICS4

MICS1-3

As of February 2013

MICS DHS OtherEarly childhood development 100 0 0Child discipline 79 8 13ORT and continued feeding 50 48 2Birth registration 47 38 15Care-seeking for pneumonia 45 48 7Child marriage 37 51 12ITN use 33 32 35Antimalarial treatment 33 41 26Skilled attendant at delivery 31 51 18Underweight prevalence 24 34 42

MICS in Global DatabasesMost recent data points on selected indicators

Source: UNICEF Global Databases

MICS List of IndicatorsMICS INDICATOR [M] Modul

e Numerator Denominator

2.4 Children ever breastfed MNNumber of women with a live birth in the 2 years preceding the survey who breastfed the child at any time

Total number of women with a live birth in the 2 years preceding the survey

2.5 Early initiation of breastfeeding MN

Number of women with a live birth in the 2 years preceding the survey who put the newborn infant to the breast within 1 hour of birth

Total number of women with a live birth in the 2 years preceding the survey

2.6 Exclusive breastfeeding under 6 months BF Number of infants under 6 months of age

who are exclusively breastfedTotal number of infants under 6 months of age

2.7 Continued breastfeeding at 1 year BF Number of children age 12-15 months who

are currently breastfeedingTotal number of children age 12-15 months

2.8 Continued breastfeeding at 2 years BF Number of children age 20-23 months who

are currently breastfeedingTotal number of children age 20-23 months

2.9Predominant breastfeeding under 6 months

BF

Number of infants under 6 months of age who received breast milk as the predominant source of nourishment during the previous day

Total number of infants under 6 months of age

2.10 Duration of breastfeeding BF The age in months when 50 percent of children age 0-35 months did not receive breast milk during the previous day

2.11 Bottle feeding BFNumber of children age 0-23 months who were fed with a bottle during the previous day

Total number of children age 0-23 months

Data collection through MICS is a primary source of disaggregated data

MICS provides data for more than 100

indicators which can be disaggregated by:

• geozones• residence (urban,

urban-poor, rural)• gender• education• age• wealth• ethnicity/religion/

language• other stratifiers• combinations of the

above

Disaggregation

MICS Questionnaires

HOUSEHOLD QUESTIONNAIRE

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR INDIVIDUAL

WOMEN(AGE 15-49)

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR CHILDREN

UNDER-5(AGE 0-4)

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR INDIVIDUAL

MEN(AGE 15-49)

Household

Social and demographic characteristicsChildren’s living arrangements / OrphansEducationWater and SanitationHousehold assets, dwelling characteristicsUse of mosquito netsChild labourChild disciplineHandwashingSalt iodization

Under-5s

Birth registrationEarly childhood developmentDiarrhoea, pneumonia, malariaImmunizationBreastfeeding and dietary intakeAnthropometry

Women

FertilityChild mortalityAntenatal careDelivery carePost-natal health checksContraception, unmet needFemale genital mutilation/cuttingMaternal mortalityWomen and Men

Attitudes towards domestic violenceMarriageSexual behaviourHIV/AIDS knowledge and attitudesAccess to mass media/ICTTobacco and alcohol useLife satisfactionLiteracy and education

Household

Social and demographic characteristicsChildren’s living arrangements / OrphansEducationWater and SanitationHousehold assets, dwelling characteristicsUse of mosquito netsChild labourChild disciplineHandwashingSalt iodization

Under-5s

Birth registrationEarly childhood developmentDiarrhoea, pneumonia, malariaImmunizationBreastfeeding and dietary intakeAnthropometry

Women

FertilityChild mortalityAntenatal careDelivery carePost-natal health checksContraception, unmet needFemale genital mutilation/cuttingMaternal mortalityWomen and Men

Attitudes towards domestic violenceMarriageSexual behaviourHIV/AIDS knowledge and attitudesAccess to mass media/ICTTobacco and alcohol useLife satisfactionLiteracy and education

21 MDG indicators

Household

Social and demographic characteristicsChildren’s living arrangements / OrphansEducationWater and SanitationHousehold assets, dwelling characteristicsUse of mosquito netsCh i ld l abourChild disciplineHandwash ingSalt iodization

Under-5s

Birth registrationEar l y ch i ldhood deve lopmentDiarrhoea, pneumonia, malariaImmunizationBreastfeeding and dietary intakeAnthropometry

Women

FertilityChild mortalityAntenatal careDelivery carePost -nata l hea l th checksContraception, unmet needFGM/CMaternal mortalityWomen and Men

Attitudes towards domestic violenceMarriageSexual behaviourHIV/AIDS knowledge and attitudesAccess to mass med ia / ICTTobacco and a l coho l useL i fe sa t i s fac t ionLiteracy and education

Major methodological work in the last 3-4 years to develop

validated survey tools

Ongoing methodological work

• Development of modules/protocols for– Rapid water testing– External economic support– Child disability

• Survey tools– Tablet assisted interviewing– Improved protocols for anthropometric training– Oversampling of households with under-5s, special

population groups

MICS and DHS

• Close collaboration between survey programs for harmonization of survey tools

• Up to 75 percent of indicators in the MICS list can be generated in DHS surveys

• Differences mainly in the areas of child protection, reproductive health, biomarkers, education, data on orphans & foster children, mode of technical assistance

• Technically easy to add modules from one onto the other• Several countries alternating: Ghana, DRC, Cameroon,

and others

MICS and DHS

• Hancioglu A, Arnold F (2013) Measuring Coverage in MNCH: Tracking Progress in Health for Women and Children Using DHS and MICS Household Surveys. PLoS Med 10(5): e1001391. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001391

MICS and Other Survey Programmes

• Limited harmonization with LSMS• Major methodological differences, eligible

respondents, nature of data collected makes it difficult to add from one to the other

• Thematic surveys (MIS, AIS, SMART surveys) collect more detailed information on themes of interest, MICS and DHS collect the minimum needed on a comparable basis

Future: Final MDG Reporting and MICS Surveys 2013-2014

Timeline for global reporting on MDGs

2012 2013 2014 2015

SG’s MDG Report launchSeptember 2015

Data compilation and analysisJune-August 2014

Submission of data for SG’s reportMarch 2015Deadline for Conducting Fieldwork

for Household SurveysEnd of First Quarter 2014

Typical MICS Survey timeline

# of months Activity6 months (timeline dependent on country setting)

Planning and Design

2-4 months Fieldwork (collection of data)3-6 months Survey results

(most data on MDGs included)

6 months Final Results

3-6 monthsFrom completion of fieldwork to generation of survey results

2013-2014: Timelines

• Global Pilot Survey (Bangladesh, May-June 2012)• Finalize survey instruments• …and supporting documents (by March 2013)• Assessment of data gaps, dialogue with governments• Regional Workshops• Survey Implementation

– 2013 - First quarter 2014 at the latest for surveys servicing MDG reporting

– 2013 and 2014 for all other surveys

2013-2014: Regional Workshops

Survey Design WorkshopsKathmandu March 2013 South Asia, East Asia/Pacific, CEECISDakar March-April 2013 Sub-Saharan AfricaAmman April 2013 Middle East, North AfricaManagua May 2013 Latin America/CaribbeanDubai June-July 2013 Global

Data Processing WorkshopsBangkok June 2013 GlobalDakar July 2013 Sub-Saharan Africa?? September Global

2013-2014: Regional Workshops

• Survey Design and Data Processing Workshops at end of 2013, early 2014 for countries conducting surveys in mid to late 2014

• Data Dissemination and Further Analysis Workshops from early 2014 to early 2015

• 40 surveys confirmed, more to join

2015 and beyond

• Complete reports of surveys conducted in 2014

• Post-2015 agenda

• New survey tools• Current UNICEF strategic plan including MICS:

2014-2017

Thank You