Health Survey 1996
West Bank and Gaza, 1996
Identification
WBG_1996_MICS_v01_M
Health Survey 1996
| Name | Country code |
|---|---|
| West Bank and Gaza | WBG |
Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey - Round 1 [hh/mics-1]
UNICEF assists countries in collecting and analyzing data in order to fill data gaps for monitoring the situation of children and women through its international household survey initiative the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS).
MICS surveys are typically carried out by government organizations, with the support and assistance of UNICEF and other partners. Technical assistance and training for the surveys is provided through a series of regional workshops where experts from developing countries are trained on various aspects of MICS (questionnaire content, sampling and survey implementation, data processing, data quality and data analysis, and report writing and dissemination).
Since the mid-1990s, the MICS has enabled many countries to produce statistically sound and internationally comparable estimates of a range of indicators in the areas of health, education, child protection and HIV/AIDS. MICS findings have been used extensively as a basis for policy decisions and programme interventions, and for the purpose of influencing public opinion on the situation of children and women around the world.
MICS1 (1995) - The MICS was originally developed in response to the World Summit for Children to measure progress towards an internationally agreed set of mid-decade goals. The first round of MICS was conducted around 1995 in more than 60 countries.
The Health Survey in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (MICS1) is a household survey programme conducted in 1996 by UNICEF and Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.
The aim of this survey was to collect data on the health status of the Palestinian population in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in order to facilitate assessment and monitoring of maternal and child health. The collected data would serve as an asset to health planners, the planners of health sector, policy makers and researchers. The main objectives of the survey are:
- To provide baseline data on the basic indicators of the health situation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, such as: health insurance, smoking, disability, reproductive health and child health.
- To begin the process of main streaming the monitoring of Mid-Decade and Summit Goals stage.
- To support capacity building within the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics in the areas of planning, surveillance and subsequent monitoring of the maternal and child health.
- To foster networking and strengthen linkages with different governmental institutions, UN agencies, and NGOs through the health survey.
Sample survey data [ssd]
- Individuals
- Households
Scope
The scope of the survey includes:
- Household: Household Roaster (demographic variables such as sex, relation to head of household, date of birth, age, marital status and health variables such as health insurance, accessibility to health services through the question of unexpected illness and injury episode in the last two weeks preceding the survey. Questions pertaining to smoking were also included in this section.), Disability (type and cause) and Disposal and Garbage;
- Women: Respondent's background, Ante-natal care, Tetanus taxied immunization, Child feeding (breastfeeding and supplementary feeding), and Family planning;
- Children: General identification, Accidents and injuries, Morbidity (Diarrhea), Morbidity (Acute respiratory infections), Immunization, Anthropometry, and Vitamin A/D Supplementation.
Coverage
National
The survey covered all de jure household members (usual residents), all women aged between 15-49 years, all children under 5 living in the household.
Producers and sponsors
| Name |
|---|
| United Nations Children’s Fund |
| Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics |
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Palestinian Ministry of Health | Planning and implementation of the health survey |
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| United Nations Children’s Fund | Financial and technical support |
| Government of Australia | Financial support |
Sampling
The target population of the health survey was all households living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip excluding institutional populations and nomads.
The sample of this survey is a sub-sample of the Demographic Survey. A stratified mulltistage sampling design was used for selecting the surveyed households. At the first stage a sample of localities was selected. The sample of localities were then subdivided into cells of approximately equal size, and a number of cells were selected randomly from each of the sample localities of the second stage. At the third and final stage, a sample of households was randomly selected from the sample cells.
Although a two-stage design would have been preferable, the present, more complex one was utilized because of the limited availability of data, specifically data on the population size of various small area units, e.g. cells. The total sample size was 3,934 households.
In total 2,694 housing units were selected for interview in the West Bank and 1,240 in Gaza Strip, giving a total of 3,934 housing units selected. For various reasons, all the households corresponding to these housing units could not be interviewed. The rates of non-response are given in Table A1 for the West Bank and Gaza Strip as well as for both areas combined.
Response rate (West Bank): 97.6%
Response rate (Gaza Strip): 99.5%
Response rate (Total): 98.2%
Calculations of estimators from the health survey require the use of weights because of the varying inclusion probabilities that the sample design entails. The weights for a given households simply the inverse of its inclusion probability. This yields the so called expansion weight, which will expand the sample to the total population. The weights used are the same for households, household members, women and children, since the sample design required that all such lower level units pertaining to a household were selected during enumeration.
Survey instrument
The questionnaires were developed by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) after revision and adaptation of the following standard questionnaires:
- UNICEF questionnaire for Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS).
- Papchild questionnaire.
- Demography and Health Survey (DHS) questionnaire.
The questionnaires were prepared and designed in order to meet the need of estimating selected indicators related to the health situation in Palestinian society in accordance with the WHO recommendations. The questionnaires used were as follows:
- Household questionnaire which includes three sections:
- Household Roaster (demographic variables such as sex, relation to head of household, date of birth, age, marital status and health variables such as health insurance, accessibility to health services through the question of unexpected illness and injury episode in the last two weeks preceding the survey. Questions pertaining to smoking were also included in this section.)
- Disability (type and cause).
- Disposal and Garbage.
- Women's health questionnaire (reproductive health):
This questionnaire was designed to collect data on all women ever-married and aged 14-49 years. It consists of five modules:
- Respondent's background
- Ante-natal care
- Tetanus taxied immunization
- Child feeding (breastfeeding and supplementary feeding)
- Family planning.
- Child health questionnaire:
This questionnaire was designed to collect information on all children under five years of age.
It was divided into seven sections:
- General identification
- Accidents and injuries
- Morbidity (Diarrhea)
- Morbidity (Acute respiratory infections)
- Immunization
- Anthropometry
- Vitamin AID Supplementation.
Data collection
| Start | End |
|---|---|
| 1996-06-11 | 1996-07-08 |
| Name |
|---|
| Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics |
There is one supervisor for each of the 17 data collection teams in the field.
Recruitment of fieldworkers was restricted to women. The Fieldwork Division at PCBS screened all available female applicants. A scale was designed to rank applicants using objective criteria, and the highest ranking 519 applicants were selected and called for interviews. Three committees to interview applicants in Ramalleh, Nablus and Gaza were formed. Out of the 519 applicants interviewed, the highest 220 applicants were selected for training in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. One hundred and ten interviewers, 17 supervisors and 17 editors were selected for work.
The draft fieldwork manual prepared for the pilot was reviewed, edited and utilized for training.
The main training was divided into two courses, one course was given in the West Bank and the other was -given in Gaza Strip. A fifteen day intensive course for interviewers was conducted in the West Bank for 165 trainees, and 14 days in Gaza Strip for 64 trainees.
Five medical doctors were recruited to deliver lectures on different parts of the questionnaires. The training materials, consisted of the following basic survey documents: questionnaires, interviewer's and supervisor's instructional manual.
The training course for interviewers consisted of:
• Classroom lectures on the objectives and organization of the survey
• Detailed explanation of the questionnaire
• The art of asking questions.
Principles of interviewing including demonstration of interview through role playing and practice interviews.
Main fieldwork for the health survey in the West Bank started on June 11, 1996 and completed on July 8, 1996. The Gaza Strip fieldwork started on August 27, 1996 through September 18, 1996. Fieldwork was undertaken by 17 mobile teams, 11 of which were in the West Bank and 6 in the Gaza Strip. Each team consisted of one supervisor, one field editor and 6 interviewers. Each interview was conducted by a team of two interviewers in order to handle the anthropomatric measurements.
We have implemented field editing which included further spot-checks if needed. The field editor thoroughly checked and corrected any obvious mistakes and slips.
It is worth while mentioning that the significant cooperation with the interviewers helped in obtaining a high response rate (7 refusals out of 3,934 interviews).
Data processing
Starting four days after beginning fieldwork in the West Bank, data entry was completed for 2,794 questionnaires on July 18, 1996. But in Gaza Strip it started one month after fieldwork because of closures. Data cleaning and checking processes were initiated simultaneously with data entry. Thorough data quality checks and consistency checks were carried out.
Data appraisal
Since the data reported here are based on a sample survey and not on complete enumeration, they are subject to two main types of errors: sampling errors and non- sampling errors. Sampling errors are random outcomes of the sample design, and are, therefore, easily measurable.
Non-sampling errors can occur at the various stages of the survey implementation in data collection and data processing, and are generally difficult to be evaluated statistically. They cover a wide range of errors, including errors resulting from non response, sample frame coverage, data processing and response (both respondent and interviewer-related). The use of effective training and suppervision and the careful design of questions as measures have direct bearing on the magnitude of non-sampling errors, and hence the quality of the resulting data.
Other methods utilized to evaluate the quality of data include;
- Frequencies of missing values and "don't know" responses and the proportion of responses in the "other" categories.
- Consistency between different parts of the questionnaire such as between the antenatal care and breastfeeding, between date of birth and anthropometry measurements, and immunization dates and dates of birth.
- Checks for heaping around decimal point for weight and height measurements was done.
Data Access
| Name | Affiliation | URL | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Childinfo | UNICEF | http://www.childinfo.org/mics4_surveys.html | mics@unicef.org |
| Is signing of a confidentiality declaration required? | Confidentiality declaration text |
|---|---|
| yes | Users of the data agree to keep confidential all data contained in these datasets and to make no attempt to identify, trace or contact any individual whose data is included in these datasets. |
Use of the dataset must be acknowledged using a citation which would include:
- the Identification of the Primary Investigator
- the title of the survey (including country, acronym and year of implementation)
- the survey reference number
- the source and date of download.
Example,
United Nations Children’s Fund, Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. Palestinian Health Survey (MICS) 1996, Ref. WBG_1996_MICS_v01_M. Dataset downloaded from [url] on [date].
Disclaimer and copyrights
The user of the data acknowledges that the original collector of the data, the authorized distributor of the data, and the relevant funding agency bear no responsibility for use of the data or for interpretations or inferences based upon such uses.
Contacts
| Name | Affiliation | URL | |
|---|---|---|---|
| The World Bank Microdata Library | The World Bank | microdata@worldbank.org | http://microdata.worldbank.org |
Metadata production
DDI_WBG_1996_MICS_v01_M_WB
| Name | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Development Data Group | The World Bank | Documentation of the DDI |
2015-12-23
Metadata version
Version 01 (December 2015)