Bandim - Health and Demographic Surveillance System

Transforming Evidence into Future Policy

Researching the real-life effect of health interventions

For the past 40 years, researchers at the Bandim Health Project have studied effects of health interventions in real life. This has led to the ground-breaking finding that vaccines in addition to their effect on the targeted diseases also have non-specific effects. Bandim Health Project’s ongoing efforts seek to improve health interventions with implications for millions of children.

This webpage describes work at the Bandim Health Project led by Ane Fisker with a focus on transforming evidence into future policy. A desciption of other work is available here, while the updated webpage can be found here.

See what we do >>

Every year we register 6000 pregnancies

Reliable health data

Registering births and documenting risk factors for mortality

Making every child count

Regular home visits to assess health status of more than 30,000 preschool children annually

Home visits to assess child health

Two Health and Demographic Surveillance Systems

Bandim Health Project monitors health in Guinea-Bissau through two Health and Demographic Surveillance Systems (HDSSs). An Urban HDSS through which the population in approximately a third of the capital is followed and a rural HDSS following the health of women and children in villages all over the country.

Urban HDSS

Since 1978, Bandim Health Project has monitored the health and survival of the population of suburbs of the guinean capital Bissau. Today the surveillance encompasses a population of 100,000 in Bandim, Belem, Mindara and Cuntum.

Rural HDSS

Since 1990, Bandim Health Project has monitored the health and survival of women and children in 100 village clusters in the regions Oio, Biombo, Cacheu, Bafata and Gabu. In 2006 the surveillance was scaled up to cover the whole country in 182 village clusters.