Cuban eastern province, territory with high expectations in National Fertility Survey

LAS TUNAS, Cuba, Apr 4 (ACN) Identified as one of the most aged provinces in Cuba, with more than 105,000 people over 60 years old, Las Tunas applies the National Fertility Survey (ENF-2022) with clear expectations, the first one to be developed after the complex scenario of the COVID-19 and with totally digital means.

Mariselis Roblejo Rodriguez, specialist of the Department of Demography and Census at the Provincial Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI by its Spanish acronym) in Las Tunas, told the Cuban News Agency that after a period of training by the Center for Population and Development Studies of ONEI, entities in charge of the survey, it began to be carried out in the eight municipalities of the territory, as in all of Cuba.

The direct interview to people from 15 to 54 years of age will allow offering scientific evidence and informative inputs to improve decision making on the subject and design public policies that promote a better quality of life for people of reproductive age, she said.

Roblejo Rodriguez explained that among the particularities of the survey is the decision to include the adolescent group from 15 to 19 years of age, which makes it a little more complex, as it makes this sector a research priority in order to reduce fertility levels at these ages.

Las Tunas is among the five provinces with the highest rate of teenage pregnancy and among those with the highest population aging, with a life expectancy at birth exceeding 79 years and the municipalities of Puerto Padre and Jesus Menendez among the oldest in Cuba, which is why the ENF-2022 is of great interest.

The search for the factors determining fertility in Cuba as a demographic phenomenon is urgent, since the national situation is characterized by a low birth rate that does not ensure generational replacement, said the specialist.

As the first survey to be carried out after the complex epidemiological scenario caused by COVID-19, the ENF-2022 is applied by pollsters and supervisors who carry mobile devices (tablets) as means of capture and diagnosis, which will allow greater control and speed when studying the selected sample.