HDSS Profile: The Kersa Health and Demographic Surveillance System

Abstract

Kersa HDSS was established in 12 sub-districts of Kersa district, Eastern Hararge, Oromia Region, Ethiopia. The site is principally rural with two small towns (Kersa and Weter). The baseline census was conducted in 2007 and since then has been updated every 6 months, with registration of demographic and health events. Data are entered into the HRS-2 relational database. At baseline a total of 10 085 houses, 10 522 households and 50 830 people were registered. The sex ratio and number of persons per household were 1.0 and 5.1, respectively. At the end of 2013, the population was 60 694. Up to the end of 2013, 12 571 births and 3143 deaths were registered, respectively. Over 85% of births and deaths occurred at home. The annual net population growth ranges from 0.06 to 1.6. The majority of the population in Kersa are not working age group; hence the dependency ratio in most of the years is below 1. The total fertility rate ranges from 4.0 to 5.3. A reduction in neonatal, infant and under-five mortalities was observed. For all deaths, verbal autopsies were done. Tuberculosis is the leading cause of death among adults and malnutrition is the leading cause of death among children aged under 5 years. Kersa HDSS is ready to collaborate with interested researchers on health and demographic issues. For further details please visit: [ http://www.haramaya.edu.et/research/projects/kds-hrc/ ].

School Enrollment among Children with Disability in Rural Eastern Ethiopia: A Community-Based Survey

“…In this study, there were high proportion of males and as well in the multivariate analysis, the association was very strong favoring enrolment that extend different study findings elsewhere [6,7,9,17] which could be explained by invisibility [30] either due to cultural bias against women leading to preferential treatment [17,31] or die due to poor care and parent reluctance to disclose in fear of stigma and discrimination [5,17] or hidden away by the families [7,19]. Gender bias in access to rehabilitative services and devices is in itself a barrier to education for girls with disability [7].…”

“…These 12 kebeles are under Kersa Health and Demographic Surveillance System (Kersa HDSS) field site and had 13,000 households with estimated total population of 63,000 during survey [19,20]. From the study of the same authors, there were about 9,405 school aged children (7-14 years) in Kersa HDSS field site [20].…”

Factors associated with depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation and behaviours amongst sub‐Saharan African adolescents aged 10‐19 years: cross‐sectional study

“…Our analysis covers data from eight sites in six countries, including Kersa and Harar in Ethiopia; Dar es Salaam and Dodoma in Tanzania; Ningo Prampram in Ghana, Ibadan in Nigeria; Iganga and Mayuge in Uganda; and Nouna in Burkina Faso. Study site details are described in Berhane et al and other studies .…”

Estimating mortality from external causes using data from retrospective surveys: A validation study in Niakhar (Senegal)

“…Other vertical lines represent estimates of the PEC among adults (aged 15-49 years old) in other HDSS in other LMICs. The estimate from Kersa (Ethiopia) is described in the following references (Ashenafi et al 2017;Assefa et al 2016). The estimate from Dande (Angola) is described in the following references (Rosario et al 2016;Rosario et al 2017).…”