THE Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Survey (ZDHS) has been launched after initially failing to kick off in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The survey conducted by the Zimbabwe Statistics Agency (ZimStat) is done after every five years with the last exercise having been carried out in 2015.
The ZDHS is a nationally-representative household survey which collects key demographic and health indicators important for policy formulation.
Some 11 200 households are set to be covered during the survey.
The project is being funded by government while Health Resilience Fund, Global Fund, USAid, UNFPA and ICF Macro International have also offered resources.
Addressing journalists in Harare last week, ZimStat acting director general Matiwonesa Phiri said ZDHS aims to provide current information on a wide range of demographic, health and social facets.
These include child health and nutrition, reproduction, contraceptive practices, education, employment, marriage and sexual activity, fertility preferences, mortality, malaria, maternal healthcare, HIV/Aids, mental health and other health issues, domestic violence, as well as housing characteristics.
She said survey statistics would be pivotal in designing, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes aimed at improving the health and well-being of Zimbabweans.
- ZimStats launches demographic, health survey
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“Statistics produced from the ZDHS will also inform on progress made towards regional, continental and global initiatives including the Sadc Vision 2050, Africa Agenda 2063 and 2030 Sustainable Development Goals,” Phiri said.
Speaking on behalf of Health and Child Care secretary Aspect Maunganidze, the ministry’s monitoring and evaluation director Rugare Kangwende said the results would be used to evaluate the health and well-being priority areas in the Zimbabwe economic blueprint, National Development Strategy 1, and inform the formulation of the next strategy for 2026 going forward.
