Reproductive Health Survey Information Confidential – STATIN

The Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) is reassuring the public that information collected during the Reproductive Health Survey (RHS) is strictly confidential.

“Interviewers have to sign a Secrets Act as well as a Form of Oath that they maintain the confidentiality. Anything that is disclosed to them, they have to keep it private,” said Head of the Special Projects Unit, Surveys Division at STATIN, Philone Mantock, at a recent Jamaica Information Service (JIS) ‘Think Tank’ in Kingston.

She further informed that any data collected is published in an aggregated manner.

“We remove all names from the data set. Anything to identify a person is removed and every respondent will be given a unique identification (ID) number that doesn’t indicate who they are or where they are from,” she added.

The RHS is a household survey that looks at the fertility, contraception and reproductive health of women and men aged 15 to 49 years.

A total of 121 interviewers and 36 supervisors are currently collecting data across all parishes using tablets.

“The tablets that we collect the data on is password protected, and the application system is password protected as well. So, it is very hard for somebody to break into the system,” said Ms. Mantock.

She also pointed out that all interviewers are issued an ID card that has the name STATIN, its logo and the name of the interviewer and the survey that they are working on.

“If respondents are wary about this, they can always contact the STATIN office at 876-630-1600 to confirm that the person is, indeed, working at STATIN,” Ms. Mantock added.

For her part, Principal Director of the National Family Planning Board (NFPB), Lovette Byfield, said that issues relating to sexually reproductive health are usually sensitive; however, similar surveys have been conducted.

“The most important thing for the persons being interviewed to be aware of is that we are very comfortable with the issues we are raising. We are not attempting to track your sexual history for anything that is going to be sensational,” she said.

The survey is being conducted by STATIN on behalf of the NFPB. Data collection began in August and will end in December 2021.

The data obtained will accurately update the country on the status of total fertility, contraceptive use and the knowledge, attitude and practice of the population towards the critical issues of family planning, and sexually reproductive health.