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Govt to assess population boom risk
KATHMANDU, AUG 11 -
In a bid to collect detailed and comprehensive information on the country’s adolescent population, the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) is gearing up for Adolescent and Youth Survey 2010. Officials believe that the survey will help in the formulation of plans and policies on youths and adolescents.
“According to the population census 2001, adolescents constitute almost 33 percent of the country’s population. This shows that measures to control population growth should include programmes targeting the youth,” said Padma Raj Bhatta, joint secretary at Population Division of MoHP.
According to the ministry, the study, to be carried out by Rural and Alternative Energy, includes people from 10-24 years of age of 9,000 households in 70 districts.
Two types of questionnaires will be used in the survey—one for household information and the other for individual information of the respondents.
The questionnaire will collect data on socio-demographic aspects like education, marriage, job/work and migration; health-related information like awareness, morbidity and health behaviour; information on sexuality like puberty and attitude towards sexual behaviour; information on reproductive health like pregnancy, maternity, use of contraception, risk behaviour, gender roles and violence, among others.
There are also questions on HIV/AIDS, relating to risk perception, knowledge about prevention, attitude towards condom use and knowledge and access to specific services.
According to survey coordinator Pushpa Kamal Subedi, some 100 supervisors and enumerators will be mobilised for the study and that they will get weeklong training from mid-August. Subedi said they plan to complete the data collection before Dashain and publish the final report by Dec. 15.
MoHP and UNFPA will bear the cost of the survey, which is estimated to be around 10.7 million rupees. “We will dispatch the enumerators once the budget is released,” Subedi said.
Posted on: 2010-08-12 07:43
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