ZIMSTAT releases survey findings.

By Lerato Ndlovu
The Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZIMSTAT) with the aid of UNICEF unveiled the third Zimbabwe Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) following household surveys and covers six priority areas.
The 2019 Zimbabwe MICS was conducted between January and April worked in collaboration with the European Union, DFID, and the Swedish Embassy.
ZIMSTAT Director General Taguma Mahonde stated that the Zimbabwe United Nations Development Assistance Framework (ZUNDAF) provided the context under which the MICS was carried out.
“The ZUNDAF provides the context in which the MICS was carried out, the 2016- 2020 ZUNDAF focuses on recovery and development issues, inclusive growth and sustainable development and establish effective partnerships between the government of Zimbabwe and the UN Agencies.”
“ZUNDAF has six national priority areas that were mostly covered in the MICS these are: food and nutrition security, gender equality, HIV and AIDs, poverty reduction and value addition, public administration and governance, social services and protection.” He said
The survey results provide data to measure progress and assess gaps on key indicators in numerous areas affecting women and children’s lives such as child and maternal mortality, fertility, child health and nutrition, birth registration, adolescents, HIV and sexual behaviour, child discipline and domestic violence, early childhood development, education, and drinking water, sanitation and hygiene amongst others.
UNICEF representative Laylee Moshiri said as a means to measure progress on the 2030 SDG agenda MICS acts as a major source of data collection.
“MICS is a source of data that helps to measure progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) target of 2030, the collaborative efforts of the Government and development partners, is an indicator that the country has achieved great improvement in the areas of Maternal and Child Health” she said, “It is also important to make sure that the current hardships the country is going through at this time do not lead to a reversal of the gains made so far for it is a critical risk that threatens the development gains and therefore the lives of so many vulnerable children and women”.