ACDIS/HIV additional funds for 2005-2007. (360G-Wellcome-065377_Z_01_H)

Demographic surveillance systems have been set up in a number of research field sites in the developing world. They have grown out of large population-based descriptive or intervention studies that require enumeration of populations in areas, where vital registration systems are inadequate or non-existent. To the best of our knowledge this is the first time that a DSS has been set up 'ab initio' to integrate and support an extensive and pre-defined programme of demographic, epidemiological biomedical and social science research. In the Hlabisa district a dominant focus will be on efforts to understand and intervene in the HIV epidemic. In order to fulfil this ambitious brief the DSS has been customized, in its two years of development, to capture and model complex social realities in rural South Africa, including high levels of population mobility. In this proposal an inventory of existing studies and new research ideas is presented. A framework is provided that defines the relationship of the DSS to other studies while providing a clear basis for future management responsibilities and budgeting of all studies in the Africa Centre.