The Ministry of Health (MOH) has continued the implementation of its Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), through its field teams, including 9,300 health practitioners, who are trained to conduct interviews, laboratory tests and vital signs. These health practitioners have been chosen among the staff of 571 primary healthcare centers, serving families in their surroundings; in an endeavor to facilitate the teams’ missions, as being familiar to those households.
The MOH pointed out that the DHS has achieved a rate of 47% of the targeted group so far. More than 24,000 households have responded to the field teams, who are touring throughout the Kingdom’s regions and governorates, visiting villages and hamlets and reaching the farthest place where the citizen lives.
The MOH went on adding that members of the field teams have official ID card, conducting laboratory tests and recording all factors that affect the health of every household members, including children, adolescents, youths, mothers and the elderly.
It is worth mentioning that this survey is reckoned the largest health survey in the Kingdom’s history, targeting 50,000 households. The MOH aims through this survey to assess the population’s health situation and pinpoint the risk factors, such as: lack of exercising, smoking…etc. It also aims to evaluate the ability of health system to respond to the population’s aspirations and needs, and to determine the coverage of health services and programs to population, as well as health expenditure at the household level.
Furthermore, the MOH aims through this survey to accurately provide reliable data about the health status of the population in order to touch upon the health indicators in the Kingdom, identify the health problems and develop appropriate solutions for them, as well as ensuring the provision of highly reliable and internationally comparable information about the health status in the Kingdom, being internationally comparable. The MOH also aims to develop a database of these information and evidences to assess the health system performance and its ability to achieve the designed objectives and provide the decision-makers with the required information they need to direct policies, strategies and programs, when necessary.