HYDERABAD: The infant mortality rate is 82 deaths per 1,000 live births and the under-five years mortality rate is 104 deaths per 1,000 births, according to Sindh Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2014 Tuesday.
The nutritional status indicated that more than four out of 10 children under the age of five are underweight, 17 percent are classified as severely underweight, 15 percent of the children are thin for their height and only one percent of children are overweight or too heavy their height.
These statistics were presented by the experts in dissemination seminar on Sindh MICS-2014 held here at a hotel.
The seminar organized by Sindh Bureau of Statistic Planning and Development Department and UNICEF which attended by the Vice Chancellor Mehran University of Engineering and Technology Jamshoro Prof. Dr. Muhammad Aslam Uqaili as chief guest.
The Director General Bureau of Statistics, Planning and Development Department Hanif Muhammad Mirchiwala, Member Judicial Board of Revenue, Ali Dino Gahoti; Water Expert Dr. M. Yar Khuhawar and Programme Officer UNICEF Sidrat Jillani also presented their papers in the seminar.
The participants were informed that Sindh MICS 2014 which covered more than 19,000 households is based on data, collected during February to August 2014. Sindh MICS covered 125 socio-economic indicators.
The survey was conducted by the Bureau of Statistics in collaboration with UNICF while Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources and Pakistan Bureau of Statistics provided the sampling frame in this regard.
The findings of the MICS, 2014 were revealed and compiled by Sindh Planning and Development Department under the leadership of the than Minister for Finance and Planning and Development and now Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah.
The Vice Chancellor Mehran University of Engineering and Technology Jamshoro Prof. Dr. Muhammad Aslam Uquali while praising objectives of the seminar said that Bureau of Statistics did the big job in data collection which will help in addressing the shortcomings and planning.
The information gathered during the survey is an asset for Sindh Government which will be a tool to redress the bottlenecks for the betterment of the children, women and other related subjects, he added.
He said the malnutrition, mortality rate during birth and alarming position of weight loss of neonatal must be addressed keenly by making all out efforts in this direction.
He informed that Sindh Government in collaboration with the donor agencies had started seven schemes which will help in resolving the malnutrition and other related issues.
According to findings of the survey, immunization is the key to prevent diseases among children. Overall 35 percent of children aged between 12 and 23 months received all recommended vaccines, reflecting improvement in the last few years in comparison with the findings of the survey conducted in 2002. 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 improved sources of drinking water while it was hardly 80 percent in the survey conducted in 2013. Only three percent of household use drinking water indicating arsenic contamination while 39 percent of houses use drinking water indicating contamination.
The survey revealed the fertility rate in the province is four children per woman while it was 5.3 children per women as per the finding of the 2003-04 survey whereas around 29 percent of married woman use contraceptives.
Almost 80 percent of married women receive antenatal care 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 report indicated.
