A DATA Collection campaign, the ‘Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS)’ was launched yesterday, at the Guyana National Bureau of Statistics (GNBS) in Fort Street, Kingston, Georgetown.The MICS Coordinator, Ms. Florence Younge said that it is a study to look at the welfare of women, children and men because, previously, no such information was collected, but this time, statistics on men’s health are being gathered.

She said, once garnered, the facts will be used by the Government in planning for the health of the population.
The project is being funded by the Government and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

So far, 122 persons have been trained and 98 will be out in 14 teams in the 10 administrative regions where they will collect data via a questionnaire.

The process will be completed by the end of June this year for which it will be updated and stored for relevant use.

UNICEF Representative in Guyana and Suriname, Ms. Marianne Flach explained that the MICS is a household survey developed by the agency in response to the World Summit for Children, held in 1990, to measure progress towards an internationally agreed set of goals for children.
She added that, since the inception of MICS, four rounds have been completed in 1995, 2000, 2005-6 and 2009-10. The first was conducted around 1995 and although Guyana did not participate, it was one of the 65 countries involved in the second round of global surveys conducted in 2000 and participated, again, in 2006.
This has given the country, its decision makers and its donors, quality data that has started to map out development trends for the country.

Other goals
Flach stated that, while Guyana has either achieved or is well on course to achieving several of the

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), including those related to hunger, primary education, gender equality and environmental sustainability, other goals are proving to be more elusive and costly to attain.
She said among those is the goal of reducing infant and maternal mortality, but while it has made significant progress in reducing that under five years through better vaccination coverage and management of childhood illnesses, neonatal mortality is still a critical issue.
Too many children still die from preventable causes within the first month of life but MICS can provide the information needed to identify these trends and plan effectively to address them, Flach pointed out.
She maintained that MICS is an important monitoring tool for assessing the well-being of children,
women and their families, as it gathers facts for over 20 of the 48 MDG indicators.
The MICS is the largest international household survey to collect information on so many MDG indicators in such a short period and for Guyana to continue making progress as a lower-middle income country, sound information on child rights indicators is crucial for formulating and revising national and sub-national policies and for monitoring to ensure the country’s progress toward the achievement of the MDGs and other global commitments aimed at promoting the welfare of children.
Flach said gaps in data often impede Guyana’s efforts to formulate effective policies and programmes and can present a challenge when channelling the country’s limited resources to those most in need.
Guyana is poised to address the current data gaps through MICS Five and she advised that, for children, this means that they will be better able to identify the critical areas which need to be addressed and ensure that they are protected, have better access to quality health care and education and make better life choices so that they will have a sustainable future as they grow into adults.
The diplomat pointed out that the survey done in 2000 provided Guyana with a baseline for measuring progress and data collected in 2006 allowed for measurement of the improvements up to that point.

Excellent opportunity
Flach said the MICS Five is, therefore, an excellent opportunity to take stock of how far Guyana has progressed since then and identify priority areas for action through the collection of more data.
She insisted that data generated from MICS (and other nationally representative household surveys) will be critically important, especially for the United Nations Secretary General’s Final MDG ‘Progress’ Report, which will be launched in September 2015.
Flach said the upcoming MICS will also provide an opportunity for the inclusion of new indicators like those on life satisfaction and subjective well-being, alcohol and tobacco use, men’s health, chronic diseases and access to media and technologies.
MICS is now structured to offer more information than before about children and women, adolescents and young people, thereby making it one of the few surveys of its kind to capture such in-depth disaggregated data on these groups.
Flach said, through the leadership of the Bureau of Statistics and with support from the Ministry of Health, Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), UN Population Fund, UNAIDS and other development partners, they are very pleased to have reached this point in the surveying and were able to stay on schedule.
“We will now begin collecting data for this survey and expect to complete the data analysis by Summer 2014. However, there must be sustained commitment and traction to ensure the greatest returns for efforts and the most efficient use of the available resources. Each team member must have a clear sense of the mission and this must be a shared priority. Based on the tight timelines, it is critical that all possible delays are avoided.

Deemed critical
“As previously done with great success, implementation of MICS 5 will be guided by a National Steering Committee comprising Government agencies, the National Bureau of Statistics, UNICEF, civil society and other UN bodies which are deemed critical in the area of promoting the rights of children and women.”

Speaking on behalf of the Guyana Government and the Ministry of Health, Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Shamdeo Persaud lauded the efforts of the stakeholders in the implementation of the project which will aid in the development of the sector.
UNICEF Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist in Guyana, Mr. Michael Gillis spoke about the journey of MICS while Chief Statistician at the Bureau of Statistics, Mr. Lennox Benjamin made brief remarks, too.
Written By Michel Outridge