The National Statistics Office is currently conducting the 2009 Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS). This is done with the help of the Department of Health, World Health Organization, the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Research Triangle Institute International, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and and CDC Foundation.
GATS is a nationally representative household survey developed to systematically monitor adult tobacco use and track key tobacco control interventions. The conduct of GATS, is in response to the urgent requirement for baseline data that will show the growing problem brought about by smoking and to seek support for anti-tobacco laws, policies, and programs to prevent the adverse effects of tobacco use on both smokers and non-smokers.
NSO is already done with the enumeration of the Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) and data from each provinces are now being processed. The FIES determines the sources of income and income distribution, levels of living and spending patterns and the degree of inequality among families. It also provides benchmark information to update weights in the estimation of Consumer Price Index (CPI) and provides inputs in the estimation of the country’s poverty threshold and incidence. (PIA)