Acute respiratory infections (ARI) are a leading cause of deaths of children aged less than 5 years worldwide. The proportion of under-fives with ARI that are taken to a health-care provider is therefore a key indicator for coverage of intervention and care-seeking, and provides critical inputs to the monitoring of progress towards child survival-related Sustainable Development Goals and related strategies.
Definition:
Percentage of children younger than 5 years with symptoms of acute respiratory infection (cough and fast or difficult breathing due to a problem in the chest and NOT due to a blocked nose only) in the 2 weeks preceding the survey for whom advice or treatment was sought from a health facility or provider.
Disaggregation:
Location (urban/rural), Maternal education level : (None, Primary, Secondary or Higher) , Wealth : Wealth quintile, Sex
Method of measurement
Mothers or caregivers of children under five years of age are asked if the child had symptoms of acute respiratory infection (ARI), and if so, whether treatment was sought and where it was sought. The definition of ARI used in the DHS and MICS and is based on the mother’s perceptions of a child who has a cough, is breathing faster than usual with short, quick breaths or is having difficulty breathing, excluding children who had only a blocked nose.
M&E Framework:
Output
Method of estimation:
Data are taken from UNICEF database (see link below), which compiled data from household surveys such as Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS).
Method of estimation of global and regional aggregates:
Population-weighted average.
Other possible data sources:
Facility reporting system
Preferred data sources:
Household surveys
Unit of Measure:
N/A
Unit Multiplier:
Not Applicable
Expected frequency of data dissemination:
Annual
Expected frequency of data collection:
Every 3-5 years
Comments:
For more information please refer to the following publication of the Child Health Accountability Tracking Technical Advisory group to WHO and UNICEF.
Requejo J, Strong KL, Agweyu A, Billah SKM, Boschi-Pinto C, Horiuchi S, Jamaluddine Z, Lazzerini M, Maiga A, McKerrow N, Munos M, Park L, Schellenberg J, Weigel R. Measuring and monitoring child health and well-being: Recommendations for tracking progress with a core set of indicators in the SDG era. Lancet Child and Adolescent Health, Volume 6, May 2022, 345-352. DOI: 10.1016/S2352-4642(22)00039-6
If you have any feedback, you are welcome to write it here.
If you need to access the old Global Health Observatory data, you can do it here. But before you leave, please provide us your feedback about our new data portal.
