Daily Times

KARACHI: The infant mortality rate in Sindh was recorded at 82 deaths per 1,000 live births, which is 8.2 percent approx and under-five mortality rate at 104 per 1,000 which is 10.4 percent, according to the Sindh Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), 2014.

Around four of 10 children in the province less than five years of age are underweight and 17 percent are classified as severely underweight.

The findings of the MICS, 2014 were revealed and were completed by planning and development department under the headship of Senior Minister for Finance and Planning and Development, Syed Murad Ali Shah. The survey is designed to provide estimates for more than 100 indicators on situation of children in the province.

A seminar was held to show indicators on situation of children in the province. While addressing the seminar, ACS (Development), Mohammad Waseem, said that it was one of the largest surveys in Sindh province with a sample size of 19,360 households.

He said that the survey conducted from January to August 2014 was part of the fifth global round of the Multiple Indicator Clusters Surveys Programme.

The MICS was a unique source of information that would serve as a baseline for researchers, policy makers, planners, and individuals and provide evidence-based data for decision making, he added.

The survey was conducted by the Bureau of Statistics in collaboration with UNICEF and the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources. The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics provided the sampling frame in this regard.

Bureau of Statistics Additional Secretary Shahnawaz Jaskani said that the people of Sindh in recent years had experienced two record breaking floods and rains.

The children may have been disproportionately affected and Sindh MICS 2014 shows that the infant mortality rate is 82 deaths per 1,000 live births and the under-five mortality rate is 104 deaths per 1,000 births.

While about the nutritional status, the report said that more than four out of 10 children under the age of five are underweight and 17 percent are classified as severely underweight.

The report revealed that 15 percent of the children are thin for their height and only one percent of children are overweight or too heavy in their height.

According to report, immunisation is the key to preventing diseases among children. Over all 35 percent of children aged between 12 and 23 months received all the recommended vaccines, reflecting improvement in the last few years in comparison with the findings of the survey conducted in 2012.

Similarly, an improvement has been witnessed in measles vaccine coverage which is 53 percent against 45 percent in 2012. Around 90 percent of the population has access to improved sources of drinking water while it was hardly 80 percent in the survey conducted in 2003.

Only three percent of households use drinking water indicating arsenic contamination while 39 percent of houses use drinking water indicating contamination.

The fertility rate in the province is four children per woman while it was 5.3 children per woman as per the findings of the 2003-04 survey whereas around 29 percent of married women use contraceptives.

Almost 80 percent of married women receive antenatal care from a skilled provider that is almost 100 percent improvement in the last decade in comparison with the findings of the MICS 2003-04 when it was recorded at 42 percent.

The prevalence of institutional deliveries has also considerably increased from 42 percent in DHS 2006-07 to 62 percent in the current survey.

Over half or 52.3 percent of girls aged between 15 and 24 years in the province are literate, whereas 45.2 percent of school-age children currently attending primary education or higher education with a modest improvement against 39 percent in the MICS 2003-04.

The report further stated that for every 100 boys attending primary schools, 86 girls are also attending at the same time whereas 81 girls for every 100 boys are attending secondary school. Around 29.1 percent of births of children less than five years of age are registered. Over 26 percent of the children aged between five and 17 years are involved in labour.

About 81 percent of children between one and 14 years experience psychological aggression, physical punishment or violent behaviour as a method of discipline whereas around 16.3 percent girls aged between 15 and 19 years are married.

However, there seems to be a decline in the number of girls being married before the age of 15. The data reflects that 17.5 percent of women in the age group of 45 and 49 years had married before the age of 15 compared with four percent of women between 15 and 19 years.