Founding Documents - Vision and Goals of the INDEPTH Network

Vision and Goals of the INDEPTH Network 

 We propose to link existing field sites able to continuously monitor the health and demographic status of geographically defined populations through a focused network. The prime purposes of the network will be to substantially enhance the capabilities of these sites through:

• technical strengthening
• methodological development
• widened applications to policy and practice
• increased interaction between site leaders, researchers and managers

In this way they will realize their potential to generate the information needed to redress long-standing inequities in health, through priority-setting, efficient & equitable resource allocation, strengthening decision making capability, defining a relevant research & development agenda and augmenting national research capacity.

Distribution of INDEPTH Field Sites

The Network: "Adding Value"

            How best, then, to realize the unique features of these field sites? What processes and activities might generate an enhanced output from the growing number of sites? How could the newest sites be supported to overcome initial hurdles, avoid the common pitfalls and raise the level of their contributions? Much of this can be effectively addressed through bringing these field stations into ongoing and effective contact. Achieving this will provide a series of critical opportunities to:

• Generate visibility and recognition among critical constituencies: academic, government and international agencies, for example, as well as impacting on donor appreciation for this work. This should facilitate the mobilizing of critical resources including, but not limited to, financial resources.
• Continually improve the methods and technologies used in resource-poor settings, thus ensuring that all participating groups can access the most appropriate methodologies available. In addition, taking advantage of the links and capacity created, to develop and test new methods and techniques. Such might relate to a "minimum data set", thus enhancing comparability and aggregation of results; to optimized data collection procedures, thereby minimizing costs; to improved analytic software; and, potentially, to new diagnostic tools and innovative study designs. Justification exists to systematically appraise the costs of health and demographic surveillance and related research, against the costs of other research approaches and alternative methods for obtaining population-based information (e.g. by government agencies).
• Cultivate cross-national activity through, for example, comparative studies and exchange of experiences on critical common problems; regional health status assessments relevant to global priority setting; and coordinated multi-center research collaborations that evaluate interventions in diverse socio-cultural and geographic environments, tackle key questions that require large sample sizes, or questions where effect differentials may be small.
• Broaden the scope of research by confronting the emerging agenda of non-communicable disease and aging, violence and injury, the special problems of migrant populations etc; giving greater emphasis to the social sciences; paying closer attention to risk factor exposures; evaluating the impact of health system change; evaluating interventions that address multiple health problems; and incorporating cost-effectiveness analyses into intervention assessment. In addition, recognizing the ability of sites to inform research in health-related fields, for example micro-credit and informal sector initiatives, changes to women's health status, educational interventions, and agricultural and economic development. Many such issues may be robustly tackled through comparative analyses and multi-site studies.
• Build capacity at individual and institutional levels. All aspects of managing and leading field research stations - administrative, technical, analytic and policy-related - can be strengthened through closer and well-directed linkages between sites. They offer excellent opportunities for graduate-level research that prioritizes national scientists, and could introduce incentives to attract and retain strong local talent ('brain gain'). At the institutional level, comprehensive guidelines emerging from collective experience could facilitate efficient, effective and rapid creation of new field sites. The resources and function of more established sites could be much enhanced through: extensive library and communication networks, mechanisms for accelerating data analysis, and strengthened project management with potential cost-savings.
• Strengthen the interface of research with policy and practice, and contribute to ongoing health reforms (e.g. decentralizing health systems) through systematic approaches to extending findings to inform policy, set priorities, guide practice, and contribute to governmental, NGO and private programming and other forms of community action.
• Improve the validity and generalizability of findings from a growing number of sites, thus rapidly improving their ability to contribute vital information relevant to action at local or national level.

Why Now?

            Leading up to the INDEPTH constituting meeting in Dar es Salaam in November 1998, there has been a rapidly growing interest in demographic surveillance summarized by the following observations:

• an increase in interest in information in decision making
• an increased demand for evidence-based planning
• an increased demand for reassessment of priorities
• an increase in the number of demographic surveillance field sites
• a decrease in the cost of demographic surveillance methods
• an increased interest on the part of demographic surveillance field sites to fully harness their individual and collective potential through networking

Over the past year preliminary meetings were held in London, Heidelberg, Bellagio, Navrango and Geneva demonstrating a groundswell of interest in strengthening links, capabilities and contributions, and indicating that an accelerating number of field sites are in the process of being established

Key Strategies to Realize the Network's Vision and Goals

The Network will use four major strategies.

Fostering Connections
By nature, field sites are often working in isolation. Activities of the Network Secretariat which will facilitate connectivity among Network members and with larger constituencies will include:

• facilitating member institutions' access to e-mail and the world wide web
• expanding the use of the newly created Network ListServe which will act as a clearing house for electronic exchanges among sites and beyond to provide each other with mutual technical assistance, rapid trouble-shooting, etc.
• production and maintenance of a web page and newsletter
• organizing meetings between network institutions
• assisting the sustainability of field sites through facilitating their access to a more diverse range of potential funding sources
  
  Reinforcing Methodology

  To enhance impact and wider application of the findings from the field sites, it is important that their basic methods be sound and comparable. Through the Network, these efforts will be extended to existing and future members by:

• development and dissemination of a methods bank including model survey instruments, data processing and analysis software, and quality control procedures
• convening startup workshops
• facilitating technical exchange visits between sites
• further development of methodology through its working groups

Read more