Health and Socio-Demographic Surveillance (HDSS) systems are a response to low levels of vital event registration in areas where data for health planning is critically scarce. HDSS aim to provide high quality longitudinal data on population dynamics of health and social transitions to inform policy and practice. The design of the Agincourt HDSS system, in the sub-district of Bushbuckridge (Mpumalanga Province, South Africa) is a continuous monitoring of an entire geographically-defined population by means of a multi-round (household visits and telephonic interviews), prospective community study, with annual recording of all vital events (births, deaths, migrations). A geographic surveillance system strengthens fieldwork management and supports spatial analyses. Status observations and special health and socio-demographic modules are repeated measurements of key attributes of households and individuals. Details of the study design, methodological and operational details will be framed as a system capable of monitoring and evaluating public health interventions. Giving the lack of death certificates, a verbal autopsy is conducted on every death to determine the probable cause of death. Linkage of health facility and demographic surveillance data provides information on the coverage of health services and deviations from equitable access to treatment, overcoming the shortage of IT capabilities of most health facilities in resource-poor settings and ethical considerations regarding the confidentiality of medical records.

Associate Professor F. Xavier Gómez-Olivé, PhD. MD. (Medical Epidemiologist, Specialist in Public Health and Preventive Medicine) is the Associate Director and Head of Research at the MRC/Wits Agincourt Research Unit, School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. Prof. Gómez-Olivé has 25 years of experience in population research in rural Africa and has run Health and Demographic Surveillance Systems research sites in Mozambique and South Africa. Prof. Gómez-Olivé’s research focuses on the health and well-being of older population in rural Africa and he is the principal investigator and co-investigator in different projects aiming to promote ageing healthy in Africa and to stablish data and health platforms to respond to the African complex situation of a rising prevalence of multimorbidity of chronic conditions. Aiming to support and develop the new generation of African researchers, Prof. Gómez-Olivé has supervised Master, PhD and Post-doctoral students to completion.
 

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