The National Population Commission (NPC), has appealed to households selected for the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), to collaborate with interviewers throughout the duration of the exercise.
The Director of the commission in Cross River State, southern Nigeria, Mr. Stanley Itam, who made the appeal during a press conference in Calabar, the state capital, said that with the support of the people, much success would be achieved.
Itam explained that the survey, which commenced last December, is being conducted in collaboration with the Nigeria’s Ministry of Health and other key partners to provide data for monitoring the population and health situation in Nigeria.
He said, “I want to use this opportunity to appeal to the people of the localities where these clusters are selected for the exercise to cooperate with the interviewers by responding to the question they will be asked. They should give correct answers to the questions to enable us collect reliable data. Let me also assure the people of the utmost confidentiality, information from them will not be exposed.”
Survey objectives
While also soliciting the support of the Cross River State government to achieve success in the exercise, he assured citizens of the preparedness of the commission to conduct a hitch-free exercise that would benefit the country.
“One of the objectives of the survey is to gather high quality data on a wide range of vital indicators including fertility rates, maternal and child health, contraceptive use, childhood mortality, gender related issues, nutrition, HIV and AIDS awareness.
“It will also enhance the production of timely results and ensure wide data dissemination, useful to programme managers and policy makers; and to strengthen Nigeria’s capacity for data collection analysis and utilization as well as enhancing national ownership of the process. It will further strengthen the use of data to identify demographic and health related basic social needs, develop equitable growth strategies and address social poverty for national development,” Itam insisted.
Sample Selection
The State Director further told journalists that the exercise would be conducted in sixteen (16) local government areas where thirty-five (35) clusters have been randomly selected.
Itam explained, “within the thirty-five (35) clusters, a total of one thousand five hundred and seventy-five (1,575) households will be interviewed across the selected clusters, in the state. The exercise started in Calabar South last year and expected to end in April, 2024.”
He expressed appreciation to other partners such as the National Bureau of Statistics, and the United State Agency for International Development (USAID), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Health Organizations for the financial and technical support.
In a brief remark, the team supervisor for the Cross River 2023 DHS, Mrs. Gloria Ogu said that the sample population for the survey were digitally and electronically selected with the use of the population’s globally accepted standard.
She said that between one to three clusters were electronically chosen from the sixteen local government areas digitally selected, adding that “each of the cluster consist of 45 households. At each household, interviewers would ask targeted questions in line with the objectives of this particular survey.”
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