INDEPTH NETWORK

INDEPTH is an international network currently consisting of 31 demographic surveillance system (DSS) field sites in 17 countries that collectively monitor 1,800,000 people at a household-level. The sites are currently located in Africa and Asia with the majority of sites located in sub-Saharan Africa (see our map). Each site operates in geographically defined populations, and conducts continuous, longitudinal, demographic monitoring, with timely production of data on all births, deaths, causes of death, and migration. This monitoring system provides a platform for the design and evaluation of a wide range of health care innovations as well as social, economic, behavioral and health interventions and research studies.

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What are the current cross-site initiatives of the INDEPTH Network?

INDEPTH undertakes the following cross-site initiatives:

Health Equity: To determine the relationship between specific socio-economic factors and inequity in health outcomes.
Health Interventions: To establish a multi-site Health Intervention Trials platform.
INDEPTH Scientific Development and Leadership Programme: To produce a genre of African Scientists capable of identifying problems and designing solutions to solve these problems.
Causes of Death at INDEPTH Sites
The causes of death determined by verbal post-mortem as well as hospital recording. INDEPTH is currently collating and analysing such data from member sites. A monograph will be published based on this work. It is envisaged that this monograph with reliable cause-specific data for the participating sites will be extremely valuable in determining control activities and implications for research agenda in our sites.
Adult Health: To assess the impact of chronic illness and lifestyles on households and their productivity.
Migration and urbanization: To analyse standardised population-based migration data.
HIV/AIDS, TB and related conditions: To document their health, population and household-level impacts.
Environment, Population and Health: To understand and assess the health consequences of global and local environmental change.

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What are the major capacity building strategies of the INDEPTH Network?

To successfully realize the vision and goals of the network and execute network studies, INDEPTH pursues capacity building strategies:

Maximize connectivity among member sites to enable timely and reliable transfer of data, best practice sharing, expertise sharing and overall collaboration.
Standardize best-practice methodologies to ensure the consistency and quality of network data.
Enhance the skill sets of INDEPTH and network member staff through on-site training courses, fellowships and collaboration with INDEPTH partners.
Provide assistance to sites in interpreting and packaging data to maximize policy and programmatic influence.

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What is the AGM?

The Annual General and Scientific Meeting (AGM) is the General Assembly of the Network that takes final decisions on issues tabled by the Board and/or the Executive Director. The AGM generates the scientific agenda through its working groups and reviews progress of joint work undertaken.

In addition, INDEPTH utilizes its AGM as a Scientific Forum for members to share their experiences in Demographic Surveillance in the form of presentations of scientific papers. Posters are also presented at the AGM especially by young scientists who are sponsored by the Network.

The AGM is chaired by the Chair of the Board of Trustees and in his/her absence, any member of the Board, elected by the Board.

The AGM is attended by members of the Network, i.e. Demographic Surveillance System (DSS) sites currently in Africa and Asia.

1^st AGM: Johannesburg, South Africa June 26-30, 2000
2^nd AGM: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; January 21-25, 2002
3^rd AGM: Accra Ghana, February 3-7, 2003
4^thAGM: Hanoi, Vietnam, May 3 - 7, 2004

5^thAGM: Durban, South Africa, May 23 - 27, 2005

Other issues

Individuals wishing to attend the AGM who are neither full members nor associate members of INDEPTH, will have to register with the INDEPTH Secretariat, and seek approval from the Executive Director. Upon approval, they will be responsible for their full costs. The Secretariat will however facilitate travel and hotel arrangements.

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The INDEPTH Secretariat maintains a listserv (an email distribution list) comprising more than 300 people who wish to be continually informed of INDEPTH activities. For example, the list is alerted when a new edition of the INDEPTH News Bulletin is available, when announcements are made for workshops and other relevant network activities. If you want to join this list, please click on the "Join the INDEPTH LISTSERV" link on the INDEPTH homepage or send an email addressed to kwabena.boateng@indepth-network.org.

What is the General Value added by INDEPTH?

Existing well-established network

Potentially large participant population

Intervention comparisons in different sociological, cultural and ecological settings; a platform for evaluation of new intervention strategies across wide range of conditions

Commitment to mutual strengthening of capacity and sharing experiences and human resources across sites

Commitment to working together in a standardised way

Well-developed capacity to conduct longitudinal studies on defined individuals and populations

Single entry point for funders to conduct multi-centre studies

If you have any more questions please send email to: info@indepth-network.org