The Women and Child Development Ministry today said UNICEF's Rapid Survey on Children (RSOC) on immunisation cover was commissioned by it across 29 states during November, 2013 with technical and financial assistance from the UN body.
The key objective of the survey was to assess the situation of children and women in the country with special emphasis on access and utilisation of services under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), an official release from the ministry said.
While the field work of the survey was undertaken during November 2013 to March 2014, the draft national and state level fact sheets in respect of key indicators on maternal and child health and nutrition, and usage of ICDS services were prepared during August 2014, it said.
The fact sheets were shared with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) and the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) for their comments and views on the survey findings as well as on the methodological aspects.
"The MoHFW has noted that the RSOC can prove to be an important source for 12th Plan's mid-term review while the MoSPI has raised concerns on the sampling design and methodology adopted for the survey, especially with respect to the state level estimates," the statement said.
WCD constituted a committee led by MoSPI, with WCD and MoHFW as members to look into the data, processes and related issues on state-level survey findings. Further, it was decided that a technical sub-group consisting of members from MoSPI, MWCD, NITI Aayog and MoHFW would review the state results," it said.
"Later in a meeting with UNICEF and NITI Ayog in June, it was considered to disseminate the national level fact sheet on key indicators. Further, it was decided to expedite examination of data, processes and related issues on state level survey findings by the technical sub-group constituted by MoSPI," it said.
