KINGSTON, Jamaica – The Jamaica Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2022: Situation of Women and Children has found that there is almost universal access, 99 per cent, to an improved source of drinking water among the Jamaican household population.

Launched on Friday at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Regional Headquarters in St Andrew, the report revealed that approximately four out of every five persons in the population have access to an improved source of drinking water on their premises.

The MICS 2022 underscored that access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) is essential for good health, welfare and productivity and is widely recognised as a human right.

“About nine out of every 10 persons (93 per cent) in the population have access to basic drinking water services (an improved source of drinking water that is less than 30 minutes roundtrip from home),” a section of the report read.

The data further indicated that approximately two-thirds or 66 per cent of the household population have access to an improved source of drinking water, which is available when needed.

Meanwhile, the survey found that about nine out of every 10 persons in the population have access to basic sanitation services, which is defined as an improved toilet facility that is not shared with other households.

“The population living in the richest households have almost universal access (99 per cent) to basic sanitation services, compared to about three-quarters (77 per cent) of the population living in the poorest households. About five per cent of the population use a shared toilet facility,” the report noted.

Further breakdown of the data showed that approximately one-fifth or 19 per cent of the household population have access to a sanitation facility that is connected to the sewer system, while approximately four out of every five or 79 per cent of household members use a toilet linked to a septic tank or pit that is located on their premises.

“Approximately seven out of every 10 persons (72 per cent) live in households where there is safe disposal of excreta, while another 26 per cent live in households where the disposal of excreta is potentially safely managed,” the report said.

The survey was carried out by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN), as part of the Global MICS Programme.

Some 7,903 households were surveyed between April and August 2022, to include 5,213 women, ages 15 to 49 years; 1,483 children under five years old and 4,313 children aged five to 17.

The Global MICS Programme was developed by UNICEF in the 1990s as an international multipurpose household survey programme, to support countries in collecting internationally comparable data on a wide range of indicators about children and women.

The MICS measures key indicators that allow countries to generate data for use in policies, programmes, and national development plans, and to monitor progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other internationally agreed commitments.

-JIS