TAZAMA Health and Demographic Surveillance System, 1994-2012 Archival Version

The TAZAMA Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) study site is located in the Kisesa and Bukandwe rural electoral wards in the Magu district of the Mwanza Region in Northern Tanzania. The two wards are comprised of six villages. There is one health center and five dispensaries (3 public and 2 private) in the study area. The two wards have eleven government primary schools (at least one in each village) and two secondary schools. Both Mwanza city and Magu town are accessible to residents; buses run along the main road and take about an hour and a half to get to Mwanza. Most of the residents are subsistence farmers; a lot of surplus agricultural produce is traded in Mwanza, which is Tanzania's second city. In the year 2012, the research study covered a population of about 30,000 people who live in the Kisesa and Bukandwe wards. The majority of the residents (about ninety five per cent) belong to the Sukuma ethnic group. The DSS collects information on births and deaths and movements in and out of the households. It helps researchers to understand the population dynamics in the study area including fertility, mortality and migration patterns. It provides information on the structure of families that live together. The DSS study is also used to identify people who are eligible to participate in the serological surveys (the right age group, and continuously resident rather than just visiting). It provides the data for calculating the denominators for demographic rates. The objectives of this study are as follows: (1) to improve understanding of the dynamics of the HIV epidemic; (2) to assess the demographic, social and economic impacts of the HIV/AIDS epidemic; (3) to evaluate the effects of national prevention, treatment and care interventions as implemented in Kisesa Ward; (4) to measure child and adult mortality and fertility in the general population and by HIV status; (5) to asses the leading causes of death through verbal autopsy; (6) to assess changes in the family structure due to HIV epidemic; and (7) to provide reliable data for district health planning. The variables are contained within three major categories: demography, migrations, and variables related to observation. ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection: Created variable labels and/or value labels.; Performed recodes and/or calculated derived variables.; Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.. Response Rates: Above 95 percent Datasets: DS0: Study-Level Files DS1: Birth Data, Public-Use DS2: Death Data, Public-Use DS3: Residency Episodes, Public-Use DS4: Individual Data, Public-Use DS5: In Migration Data, Public-Use DS6: Out Migration Data, Public-Use computer-assisted personal interview (CAPI), face-to-face interview, paper and pencil interview (PAPI), on-site questionnaire All usual residents in the Kisesa and Bukandwe wards, excluding visitors and out migrants. During data collection, those who are planning to stay for less than 3 months are considered to be visitors. Those who have been away for less than three months are maintained in the database as residents until they have been away for more than 3 months. Smallest Geographic Unit: An electoral ward The data pertain to the whole population of the Kisesa ward.