Central Data Catalog

Vadu Health and Demographic Surveillance System (VaduHDSS), a surveillance system initiated in 2002, is run by Vadu Rural Health Program of the KEMHRC Pune. Every six month, the VaduHDSS collects data on pregnancies, births, marriages, migrations, deaths and assesses causes of deaths using verbal autopsies in a population of 160000 individuals residing in about 48000 households in 22 villages. By virtue of its longitudinal data generation practices the VaduHDSS facilitates national and globally relevant health research to generate evidence for informed health policy decisions.

Availability of reliable empirical health and demographic data are crucial to understand the burden and trends of health conditions/diseases and plan health interventions. Typically, such data are obtained from sample populations, which is then used to calculate estimates for the larger community with the help of statistical analyses and modeling techniques. Though these methods are robust and can result in fairly accurate estimates, these are heavily dependent on sampling techniques and sample characteristics and can have significant errors in estimates. One method to improve this is to establish a health and demographic surveillance system (HDSS). An HDSS involves an ongoing, long-term monitoring of vital events, demographic characteristics and health status of a geographically defined population. The complete population within an HDSS is under surveillance and thus relevant data are available for all its individuals. An HDSS enables us to monitor trends in diseases and conditions and track mortality rates and help to fill gaps in health-related data. Additionally, it provides a platform to conduct health research studies.

Here we present the profile of an HDSS in a rural part of Pune district, India, set up by KEM Hospital Research Centre Pune. We describe the surveillance system and report some key findings from it, including the advantages of a HDSS.