Hillbrow | Atteridgeville | Melusi

Overview

GRT-I is a Health Demographic Surveillance Site (HDSS) established in 2020 working across a dispersed node comprising three sites where data is collected on a total of 100 000 people (via a proxy household respondent) in three rounds per annum (one in person, two via a call centre). This breaks down as: fieldwork is undertaken and managed by University of Johannesburg in Hillbrow South (data on 20 000 individuals in the southern half of sub-place), Wits RHI manages in Hillbrow North (data on 20 000 individuals in the northern half of sub-place), and University of Pretoria manages Atteridgeville West (50 000), and Melusi, a slowly formalising informal area, 10 000; the three sites together comprise the node. The data collected will be merged into the annual SAPRIN data release, and form part of the SAPRIN longitudinal database.

What we do

A Health & Demographic Surveillance site tracks people (up to a population of 100 000) living in a designated area, interviewing a household proxy three times each year (once in person, twice via a call centre). The goal is precision in data collection, and interviewing three times a year means vital events will be picked up while they are still ‘top of mind’ for respondents. The second goal is longitudinal data, so that the development course of individuals, households, sites and the node can be tracked over many years, picking up for example an emerging trend as opposed to isolated incidents that looked significant but were once-off events.

Vision

The overarching vision of GRT-INSPIRED is to create a world-class multidisciplinary Health and Demographic Surveillance System that covers three key types of poor urban areas in Gauteng province, and that draws on expertise of world-leading researchers from three Gauteng universities.

Mission

Focusing on vulnerable urban communities in Gauteng (inner-city, informal settlement, hostel, backyard structure and township populations), extending from Johannesburg to Tshwane, to ensure the diversity of the populations under surveillance and to obtain high quality longitudinal data that are representative of South Africa’s fast-changing urban communities, ensuring that health and demographic changes are understood in a broader socio-economic context.

Strategy

GRT-INSPIRED is multidisciplinary. The health sciences and demography underpin the entire HDSS strategy – but are integrated with urbanism and the built environment, economics, transport, climate change, migration and a range of additional urban variables. Health and demographic outcomes will be analysed and understood in the context of inequality, class, socio-economic status, and related issues, requiring a multidisciplinary approach.