A new report by the National Immunisation Coverage Survey (NICS) in collaboration with UNICEF, has revealed that there has been a significant decrease in the number of children who are marrying before the age of 18.
Apart from the reduction in child marriage, the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) – a household survey developed by UNICEF to assist countries in filling data gaps for monitoring human development indicators in general – also shows that progress has been made in the decreasing the child mortality rate – from one in eight children dying before their fifth birthday (MICS 2016) to one in 10 children (MICS 2021).
The National Bureau of Statistics implemented MICS to provide among others, data on child mortality, health, nutrition and education, while NICS assesses vaccination coverage provided through the health systems.