Question pretext
Repeat greeting if not already read to this respondent: We are from (COUNTRY-SPECIFIC AFFILIATION). We are working on a project concerned with family health and education. I would like to talk to you about this. The interview will take about (NUMBER) minutes. All the information we obtain will remain strictly confidential and your answers will never be identified. Also, you are not obliged to answer any question you don't want to, and you may withdraw from the interview at any time. May I start now? If permission is given, begin the interview. If the respondent does not agree to continue, thank him/her and go to the next interview. Discuss this result with your supervisor for a future revisit.
Literal question
Now I would like to ask you some questions about the health of each child under the age of 5 in your care, who lives with you now. Now I want to ask you about (NAME). In what month and year was (NAME) born? Probe: What is his/her birthday?
Interviewer instructions
You will begin the interview with questions about the child's date of birth and age. These are two of the most important questions in the interview, since almost all analysis of the data depends on the child's exact age. While completed age in years is sufficient for women's interviews, we need to obtain accurate information on the child's age in months. This is necessary because some of the analysis of the information that you will be collecting can only be done on the basis of age in months. You will collect this information by learning the child's date of birth. It will then be possible to compare the date of interview with the date of birth of the child and, after the data is collected, calculate the child's age in months by comparing these two pieces of information. The questions on age and date of birth must be asked independently from similar questions on the Household Questionnaire and Questionnaire for Individual Women. The person you may be interviewing for this questionnaire may be the same woman you interviewed for the Questionnaire for Individual Women, and you may have obtained dates of birth of her children in that questionnaire. Also, you may have obtained the child's age in the Household Questionnaire. Even in such cases, you must ask these questions again. --- Note that you may modify the first sentence based on the number of children in the respondent's care. If this is the only child the respondent cares for, change the sentences to "NOW I WOULD LIKE TO ASK YOU SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT THE HEALTH OF (name). IN WHAT MONTH AND YEAR WAS (name) BORN?" Ask the mother or primary caretaker for the child's date of birth. Probe: "WHAT IS HIS/HER BIRTHDAY?" It is important to record the child's month and year of birth accurately. If the mother/primary caretaker knows the exact birth date, including the day, enter the day of birth. Otherwise, circle '98' for 'DK day'. You do not need to probe further for day of birth. Convert the month to a number as you have done before. Enter the number in the space provided. If the month or day contains only one digit, use a leading zero. For example, the month of March is coded as '03'. Note that you are not allowed to enter DK for month or year of birth. You have to obtain month and year of birth of the child. Since all MICS3 surveys will be conducted in 2005 or 2006, the year of birth of the child cannot be earlier than 2000 (for surveys in 2005) or 2001 (for surveys in 2006). If the mother/primary caretaker is unable to provide the date of birth information, ask whether she/he has any documentation such as an identification card, health card, horoscope, or a birth or baptismal certificate that might give the date of birth of the child. However, confirm with the respondent that the date of birth recorded on such documents is indeed correct.
Question post text
If the mother/caretaker knows the exact birth date, also enter the day; otherwise, circle 98 for day.
