The National Population Commission (NPC) has earmarked 1,110 households in 3 local government areas of Nasarawa State for the 2018 National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS).
Umar Tafida-Abdul, Nasarawa State Coordinator of NPC disclosed this to newsmen at the official commencement of the exercise on Monday in Lafia.
He said the survey was scheduled to hold between Aug. 26 to Dec. 15 would be done in 37 clusters across the state with each selected cluster having 30 households.
According to him, the 2018 NDHS is the sixth in the series of five years periodic surveys for collation of high quality data to aid policy formulation based on changes in population, health and nutrition.
Tafida-Abdul said the survey, being run in partnership with Federal Ministry of Health, would gather data on fertility level and preferences; contraceptive use, maternal and child health, infant and neonatal mortality level and violence against women.
Other areas of focus include, immunization, nutrition, breastfeeding, awareness on HIV/AIDS as well as other indicators relevant for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
He explained that unlike previous exercises, the 2018 NDHS was designed with additional components on malaria and genotype testing.
Tafida-Abdul maintained that the survey would also foster and reinforce Nigeria’s ownership of data collection, analysis, presentation and use by utilizing its own manpower.
The coordinator said adequate logistics arrangement have been made for the smooth conduct of the exercise in the state.
He therefore solicited the assistance of the state and local government, security agencies, traditional institutions and other stakeholders to enable field workers unfettered access to the selected clusters. (NAN)
