Profile: The Mbita Health and Demographic Surveillance System

Abstract

The Mbita Health and Demographic Surveillance System (Mbita HDSS), located on the shores of Lake Victoria in Kenya, was established in 2006. The main objective of the HDSS is to provide a platform for population-based research on relationships between diseases and socio-economic and environmental factors, and for the evaluation of disease control interventions. The Mbita HDSS had a population of approximately 54 014 inhabitants from 11 576 households in June 2013. Regular data are collected using personal digital assistants (PDAs) every 3 months, which includes births, pregnancies, migration events and deaths. Coordinates are taken using geographical positioning system (GPS) units to map all dwelling units during data collection. Cause of death is inferred from verbal autopsy questionnaires. In addition, other health-related data such as vaccination status, socio-economic status, water sources, acute illness and bed net distribution are collected. The HDSS has also provided a platform for conducting various other research activities such as entomology studies, research on neglected tropical diseases, and environmental health projects which have benefited the organization as well as the HDSS community residents. Data collected are shared with the community members, health officials, local administration and other relevant organizations. Opportunities for collaboration and data sharing with the wider research community are available and those interested should contact shimadam@nagasaki-u.ac.jp or mhmdkarama@yahoo.com.

Impact of odour-baited mosquito traps for malaria control : design and evaluation of a trial using solar-powered mosquito trapping systems in western Kenya

“…Table 5.3 summarises characteristics of 6640 inhabited houses of which information about the house was collected. These results are comparable to other HDSSs in Western Kenya, such as Asembo and Gem (Odhiambo et al, 2012) and around Mbita (Kaneko et al, 2012;Wanyua et al, 2013). On Rusinga a typical house is made from mud walls, a roof of iron sheeting with a cement floor.…”

“…Thus where traditional paper based HDSSs would approximately use one A4 for updates on household information and one A4 for individual health information, a digitalized data collection with 25,000 people and 8,000 houses would save over 30,000 A4 papers per survey. In the last five years there are sites where HDSSs have migrated from paper-based to some sort of digitalized entering system (Kouanda et al, 2013;Odhiambo FO, 2012;Sacoor et al, 2013;Sifuna et al, 2014;Wanyua et al, 2013). However, none of these sites have linked data collection software in the field directly to a real-time database.…”

“…At most INDEPTH affiliated HDSS sites the Household Registration System [HRS] is used for managing demographic and health-related data, either by digitalizing filled in paper forms or direct digital entry in the field (Derra et al, 2012;Gyapong et al, 2013;Kouanda et al, 2013;Odhiambo et al, 2012;Wanyua et al, 2013). There are also examples of HDSS sites where a different data management system is developed relying on paper or non-paper based data collection (Kahn et al, 2012;Sacoor et al, 2013;Scott et al, 2012).…”

Lessons learned from setting up the Nahuche Health and Demographic Surveillance System in the resource-constrained context of northern Nigeria

“…A stream of publications from population surveillance sites reflects the match between population health approaches and the health systems research approach (6–8). Given the need to compare alternative programme intervention models using a population health perspective, PRRINN-MNCH undertook to launch a Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) site.…”

Combining malaria control with rural electrification : social and behavioural factors that influenced the design, use and sustainability of solar-powered mosquito trapping systems (SMoTS) for malaria elimination on Rusinga Island, western Kenya

“…Data on perceived susceptibility and severity of malaria were readily available because studies from the area Wanyua, Ndemwa et al 2013) showed that residents regarded malaria as a major threat to life, especially for children. We therefore concentrated on perceived benefits and barriers of adhering to recommended behaviours to ensure proper deployment of SMoTS.…”