The Sao Tome and Principe Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) was carried out in 2014 by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) in collaboration with the National Centre for Endemic Diseases (CNE) and the UNDP/Global Fund project, as part of the global MICS programme. Technical support was provided by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and ICF International. UNICEF, the Global Fund and the Government of the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe provided financial and logistical support. The global MICS programme was developed by UNICEF in the 1990s as an international household survey programme to support countries in the collection of internationally comparable data on a wide range of indicators on the situation of children and women. MICS surveys measure key indicators that allow countries to generate data for use in policies and programmes, and to monitor progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and other internationally agreed upon commitments.
The survey provides statistically sound and internationally comparable data essential for developing evidence-based policies and programmes, and for monitoring progress toward national goals and global commitments. Among these global commitments are those emanating from the World Fit for Children Declaration and Plan of Action, the goals of the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS, the Education for All Declaration and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The objective of the 2014 MICS is to update some of the results of previous surveys, to evaluate the progress made with the various programmes of cooperation, and to identify remaining challenges. The survey also permitted to get an update on the sero-prevalence of HIV among men and women, anaemia among children and women, and malaria among children, measurements that were added to the standard MICS.