USAID donates $11 million to Nigeria for health survey

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has donated $11 million for the conduct of the 2018 Nigerian Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS).

The Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, at a joint press conference in Abuja on Thursday said the survey will be conducted by his ministry and the National Population Commission from August 15 to December 15.

The minister who was represented at the press conference by the permanent secretary of the ministry, Abdullziz Abdullahi, said the survey will be held in the 36 states of the federation and the FCT.

This year’s NDHS is the sixth in the series of DHS conducted in Nigeria. The survey is a five-year periodic worldwide survey programme designed by USAID with support from international donor organisations to assist countries in households sample surveys to monitor changes in population, health and nutrition. The last DHS in Nigeria was conducted in 2013.

Mr Abdullahi noted said the NDHS will generate data that will help in achieving sustainable development goals.

“The sample size for the 2018 NDHS consists of a total of 1,400 clusters (small geographically defined areas) with each state and FCT having 37 clusters with the exception of Lagos and Kano States which have 53clusters respectively.

“The aim of the NDHS is to collect high-quality data for policy formulation, program planning, monitoring and evaluation.

“It is also aimed at fostering and reinforcing host-country ownership of data collection, analysis, presentation, and use”

He called on media practitioners to give proper coverage for the success of the NDHS survey.

He urged the media to help in taking the message on the exercise across Nigeria “by rehashing the narrative of cooperation and ownership by the citizens.”

The Chairman of NPC, Eze DuruIheoma, in his remarks said information obtained from the survey will be useful in the formulation, implementation and evaluation of intervention programmes.

“The survey will take place in 42,000 scientifically randomly selected households in all the states of the federation ,and the Federal Capital territory. It is a nationally representative survey designed to provide information on the demographic and health status of the population.”

USAID Acting Mission director, Erin Holleran, said the survey will give concrete answers about what has been done in the last five years and the areas to concentrate in order to make progress.

“We can take time to understand the data ,and then fully invest in improvement for the quality and coverage of key interventions to address excess morbidity and mortality.”