<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;"><strong>Vision, Mission, Core Objectives and Values</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;"><strong>Vision</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;">To be a center of excellence in health science research in Ethiopia</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;"><strong>Mission</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;">To advance research undertaking, health science education and generating evidence for improving planning and the delivery of health service.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;"><strong>Core objectives</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;">The Demographic Surveillance and Health Research Center focus is to:</span>
<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;"> 1.generate up-to-date community based data including vital events;</span>
<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;"> 2.conduct studies in addressing national health issue ;</span>
<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;"> 3.assess trends of demographic, health and environmental changes;</span>
<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;"> 4.evaluate health intervention activities;</span>
<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;"> 5.enhance research culture in the learning and teaching process;</span>
<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;"> 6.render support on research method and analysis for students and staff;</span>
<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;"> 7.disseminate research findings to different users;</span>
<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;"> 8.advocate utilization of research findings in improving health and other service delivery.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;"><strong>Values </strong></span>
<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;"> Engagement: research undertaking within the community in existence</span>
<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;"> Excellence: best and innovative way of looking at things</span>
<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;"> Collaboration: working together with other stakeholders</span>
<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;"> Banding: team approach to research undertaking</span>
<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;"> Respect: upholding public norms, culture, ethics and moral issues</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;"><strong>Focus areas of research:</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;">KDS-HRC undertakes researches in major health and health related public health problems. Some of the focus areas of research’s areas are:</span>
<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;"> • Child health                                                                                            • Maternal health</span>
<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;"> • Demographic changes                                                                           • Reproductive health</span>
<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;"> • HIV/AIDS and other STIs                                                                       • Malaria and other acute infectious diseases</span>
<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;"> • Tuberculosis and other chronic infectious diseases                               • Gender related issues</span>
<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;"> • Nutrition                                                                                                  • Water and sanitation</span>
<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;"> • Vector borne diseases                                                                            • Pollution</span>
<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;"> • Occupational health                                                                                • Mental health</span>
<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;"> • Chronic non-infectious diseases (hypertension, diabetes and etc…)     • Other communicable diseases</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;">• Health service utilization</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;"><strong>Location:</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;">Kersa is one of the 180 districts in the Oromia Region. It is part of east Hararghe. It is bordered on the south by Bedeno district, on the west by Meta district, on the north by Dire Dawa administrative council, on the northeast by Haramaya woreda, and on the southeast by Kurfa Chele district. The woreda capital is Kersa, which is 44 km from Harar west wards.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;"><strong>Topography:</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;">The district ranges from 1400 to 3200 meters above sea level. According to a survey of the land in Kersa 28.5% is arable or cultivable, 2.3% pasture, 6.2% forest, and the remaining 56.3% is considered built-up degraded or otherwise unusable. Chat, fruits and vegetables are important cash crops. Coffee is also an important cash crop, covering 5,000 hectares.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;">In the woreda, there are 35 rural Kebeles and 3 small towns. According to the information obtained from the woreda administration, out of the 38 Kebeles, 2 are lowland, 22 are temperate, 7 are a mix of lowland and temperate and the remaining 7 are highland, containing 2.8 %, 60.2, %, 17 % and 20 % of the district population, respectively. All the Kebeles have road access.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;"><strong>Population:</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;">According to the 2007 census, the district has a total population of 172,626; out of which, 6.87 are urban dwellers. With an estimated area of 463.75 square kilometers, Kersa has an estimated population density of 372.24 people per square kilometer. The district has six health centers, 28 health posts and eight private pharmacies. The health service coverage of the woreda is 80 %.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;"><strong>The Need for Demographic and Health Surveillance: </strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;"><strong> </strong>Demographic and Health Surveillance is the continuous tracking of demographic and health data from a particular place for a continuous period of time. Such a program gives valid and reliable health information to health planners and facilitates evidence-based action unlike the traditional health system oriented generation of data.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;"> Traditional sources of health information collected from health facilities such as health centers and hospitals often serve as the basis for health-services planning and allocation of resources in Ethiopia. Yet, health facility-based data often provide fragmentary and biased information. Not all population groups have geographic or socio-economic access to health facilities. Those who do have such access are usually self selected and are often those who visit health-care facilities when they suffer from a serious illness.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;">Great majorities of poor people have less access to health-care facilities than those who are better off, and they often treat themselves or use traditional health care remedies. Women may suffer from gender disparities as well, with time and cultural constraints on the use of health-care facilities, particularly in rural settings. Services for children are also severely constrained. Thus, health-facility-based data are not representative of the health problems of all rural and urban communities and do not therefore reflect the health status of the population.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;"> This void of valid health information for a large segment of the Ethiopia’s population makes it difficult for policymakers to depend on valid information on the health situation of these people. The need to establish a reliable information base to support health development has never been given due attention.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;"> Ideally, reliable health information should be community based, inclusive of all groups, and collected prospectively and continuously. Such an ideal is best met through demographic and health surveillance systems collecting demographic, environment and health data on selected population samples. Such a continuous generation of data is indispensable in providing the necessary health services and advancing health science research and promoting quality education. Moreover, it plays a significant role in health planning strengthening staff research capacity and institutional development.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;"><strong>What we do in the field? </strong><strong> </strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;">At the KDS-HRC field site, we do a continuous tracking of vital events and health information. Demographic events that changes population characteristics such as births, deaths, immigration and outmigration are of particular interest.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;">While deaths and out-migration reduces population size, immigration and birth increases population size, this dynamism is called open cohort.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;">Other events like marital status change, immunization, morbidity and birth outcomes are also under follow-up. For deceased we fill verbal autopsy to identify the cause of death.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; color: #000000;"><strong><a href="http://localhost/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/History.pdf">click here to see history of  KDS-HRC project.pdf</a></strong></span></p>