ReviewGlobal health action2021
Health and demographic surveillance systems in low- and middle-income countries: history, state of the art and future prospects.
Review in Global health action, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers.
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Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed.
- An evaluation of the Hawthorne effect in a clinical trial of trauma care in Ghana.World journal of surgery · 2024Trial
- BOHEMIA a cluster randomized trial to assess the impact of an endectocide-based one health approach to malaria in Mozambique: baseline demographics and key malaria indicators.Malaria journal · 2023Trial
- Cause-specific mortality transition among women of reproductive age with special reference to maternal mortality: the Magu health and demographic surveillance system, Tanzania, 1995-2022.Global health action · 2026Article
- The establishment of Health and Demographic Surveillance system (HDSS) in Bauchi State North East Nigeria; baseline findings, challenges and lessons learned.Global health action · 2026Article
- Neuropsychiatry genetics in Africa.Nature communications · 2026Review
- Global, regional and national burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lower respiratory infection attributable to household air pollution and secondhand smoke from 1990 to 2021: an analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD 2021).Journal of thoracic disease · 2026Article
- Strengthening data, analytic and scientific writing skills: Insights from working with 17 health and demographic surveillance system (HDSS) centres in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.Population health metrics · 2026Review
- Patterns and determinants of COVID-19 mortality in Bangladesh: insights from three health and demographic surveillance systems across diverse socio-environmental settings.Population health metrics · 2026Article
- Participatory action research to align Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) priorities with community needs in Uttar Pradesh, India.Primary health care research & development · 2026Article
- Excess mortality and underlying causes of death during the COVID-19 pandemic in rural Bangladesh: insights from the Matlab health and demographic surveillance system.Population health metrics · 2026Article
- Article
- Evaluation of economic strengthening in South Africa and its impact on HIV, sexually transmitted infections, and teenage births: A modelling study.PLoS medicine · 2025Article
- Landscape analysis of pregnancy exposure registries in low- and middle-income countries: a scoping review.BMJ open · 2025Article
- The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on all-cause mortality and life expectancy in northern Ghana: findings from the Navrongo Health and Demographic Surveillance System.Population health metrics · 2025Article
- Navigating Uncertainty: The Future of Nepal Demographic and Health Survey and Nepal Health Facility Survey in Evolving Public Health Landscape in Nepal.JNMA; journal of the Nepal Medical Association · 2025Article
- The rationale for Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) in urban populations in Ethiopia.Ethiopian journal of health sciences · 2024Article
- The Addis Health and Demographic Surveillance System (Addis-HDSS): Context and Methods.Ethiopian journal of health sciences · 2024Article
- The Value Proposition of Coordinated Population Cohorts Across Africa.Annual review of biomedical data science · 2024Review
- Strengthening Global Health Research.Global health action · 2023Review
- Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the coverage and timeliness of routine childhood vaccinations in the Gambia, 2015-2021.BMJ global health · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
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Abstract
Health and Demographic Surveillance Systems (HDSS) have been developed in several low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in Africa and Asia. This paper reviews their history, state of the art and future potential and highlights substantial areas of contribution by the late Professor Peter Byass.Historically, HDSS appeared in the second half of the twentieth century, responding to a dearth of accurate population data in poorly resourced settings to contextualise the study of interventions to improve health and well-being. The progress of the development of this network is described starting with Pholela, and progressing through Gwembe, Balabgarh, Niakhar, Matlab, Navrongo, Agincourt, Farafenni, and Butajira, and the emergence of the INDEPTH Network in the early 1990'sThe paper describes the HDSS methodology, data, strengths, and limitations. The strengths are particularly their temporal coverage, detail, dense linkage, and the fact that they exist in chronically under-documented populations in LMICs where HDSS sites operate. The main limitations are generalisability to a national population and a potential Hawthorne effect, whereby the project itself may have changed characteristics of the population.The future will include advances in HDSS data harmonisation, accessibility, and protection. Key applications of the data are to validate and assess bias in other datasets. A strong collaboration between a national HDSS network and the national statistics office is modelled in South Africa and Sierra Leone, and it is possible that other low- to middle-income countries will see the benefit and take this approach.
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