Health

Health

Key results

Key results

Sudan Household Health Survey

Sudan Household Health Survey

Sudan Accelerated Child Survival Initiative

Sudan Accelerated Child Survival Initiative

 

Sudan Household Health Survey

The 2006 Sudan Household Health Survey, recently endorsed by the Sudanese Government of National Unity and the Government of Southern Sudan, provides the first comprehensive baseline health and nutrition data for the whole of Sudan for more than twenty years.

Data on key socio-economic and demographic indicators will serve as a vital resource for policy makers and planners, and contribute to Sudan’s efforts to attain the Millennium Development Goals It is an historic document, being the first national report ever published since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005. Its data on key socio-economic and demographic indicators will serve as a vital resource for policy makers and planners, and contribute to Sudan’s efforts to attain the Millennium Development Goals.

Covering all 25 states of Sudan, the Survey reached more than 24,000 households, using five different sets of questionnaires focusing on key audience groups – households, women, children under the age of five, communities and a final questionnaire looking at food security issues.

Based on the findings taken from a total of 146,723 individual respondents, the Survey was able to establish sound estimates for the total population, gender ratios, the number of children under the age of 18, 15 and five years, as well as key information on educational histories, marital status, and household income.

The most important data came from the Survey’s investigation of health and nutritional status amongst households. For the first time in two decades, the government and its partners how have reliable information on indicators such as infant, under-five and maternal mortality, children’s nutritional status, child feeding practices, consumption of iodised salt and other micronutrients, child morbidity, reproductive health and knowledge of HIV and AIDS.

Key child protection issues such as levels of birth registration, early marriage and children without parental care were also covered through the Survey, providing an insight to traditional practices and potential risks of exploitation and abuse faced by the Sudanese child.

Amongst the Survey’s key findings were:

• Sudan’s infant mortality rate is 81 deaths per 1,000 live births.
• The under-five mortality rate is 112 deaths per 1,000 live births.
• Maternal mortality ratio is 1,107 deaths per 100,000 live births.
• Only 56% of the population has access to clean water.
• Only 31% of the population uses appropriate sanitation facilities.
• 28% of children under the age of five had suffered diarrhoeal disease just prior to the survey
• Only 31 per cent of children under the age of five have been fully immunized.
• Only 18 per cent of households have access to insecticide-treated bednets to protect against malaria.
• Prevalence of moderate and severe malnutrition amongst under-fives is 31%.
• Less than half of all births (49.2%) are attended by a qualified health professional.
• More than 66% of mothers do not exclusively breastfeed their infants for the first six months.
• Consumption of iodised salt – a vital protection against goiter, child stunting and mental retardation – is just 11%.
• Only one-third of children (32.6%) have had their births registered.
• 36% of women were married before the age of 18.

Assisted by this key data, the government and its partners can now work to set in place the resources and programmes to tackle these indicators, improve the health of women and children, and accelerate Sudan’s progress towards global development targets.

The 2006 Sudan Household Health Survey was undertaken by the Federal Ministry of Health and the Central Bureau of Statistics of the Government of National Unity and the Ministry of Health and the Southern Sudan Commission for Census Statistics and Evaluation of the Government of Southern Sudan, with support from The League of Arab States, the Pan Arab Project for Family Health, UNFPA, UNICEF, USAID, WHO and WFP as well as numerous government ministries.

To order a copy of the Sudan Household Health Survey, visit the Resources section of the website.