Nigeria: Demographic and Health Survey 2013

This is perhaps a surprising publication for an environment and urban-focused journal to give attention to – since its 538 pages give almost no attention to environmental issues and little to urban issues. But if read carefully, it does have a wealth of statistics on health and demography for Nigeria’s urban population (although sadly with no disaggregation below this). It is also important in that demographic and health surveys end up being the main source of statistics on progress towards the Millennium Development Goals.

This survey (and other demographic and health surveys) can also be downloaded at no charge from http://dhsprogram.com/

There are chapters on household population and housing characteristics; characteristics of respondents; marriage and sexual activity; fertility; fertility preferences; family planning; infant and child mortality; reproductive health; child health; nutrition of children and women; malaria; HIV- and AIDS-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour; adult and maternal mortality; women’s empowerment and demographic and health outcomes; domestic violence; orphans and vulnerable children; and female genital cutting.

Among the many notable statistics for Nigeria’s urban population, only a quarter of urban children under five have a birth certificate and only half have their birth registered.

Only 5.5 per cent of urban households have water piped to their premises and only 12.5 per cent treat their water before they use or drink it. 40 per cent of urban households share sanitation facilities.

Fewer than 4 per cent of women and 5 per cent of men in urban areas have health insurance coverage, even though a national health insurance scheme was established in 1999.

Infant and child mortality in urban areas remains high: infant mortality is 60 per 1,000 live births; under-five mortality is 100.

For the diseases that are among the main causes of child death, 1.5 per cent of urban children under five had symptoms of acute respiratory infections (estimated by asking mothers whether their children under age five had been ill, with a cough accompanied by short, rapid breathing, in the two weeks preceding the survey). Fewer than half were getting advice or treatment from a health facility or provider and fewer than half received antibiotics.

For diarrhoeal diseases, mothers were asked whether any of the children had diarrhoea in the two weeks prior to the survey; 9.2 per cent of urban children under five were reported to have had diarrhoea and 0.8 per cent diarrhoea with blood (which indicates a serious infection).

In regard to nutrition in urban areas, 26 per cent of children under five were stunted, 18 per cent wasted and 23 per cent underweight.