Brief Introduction Gilgel Gibe Field Research Center Health and Demographic Surveillance System is located surrounding the Gilgel Gibe Hydroelectric dam, within four districts of Jimma Zone, Oromia Region, Southwest Ethiopia. Its global position is between latitudes 07.4253 and 07.5558 o N and longitudes 037.1153 and 037.2033 o E with agroclimatic zone of midland. The center comprised of 11 kebeles (smallest administrative structure in Ethiopia) of which 3 are small towns. By the end of 2012, the population of the center was 57,914 of which 18,124 (31.3%) were urban and 39,790 (68.7%) rural. Children under five years of age constituted 16.6% whereas women in the reproductive age (15-49 years) were 22.8% of the population. The population comprises mainly of Muslims (67.5%), followed by Orthodox Christians (13.4%) and Protestants (3.1%). With respect to ethnicity, majority (87.3%) are Oromos and the remaining constitutes Yem, Amhara and others. The main language spoken is Oromifa, among the population 7 years and above, 54.7% didn t attend any formal schooling and of those 10 years and above 30.7% were farmers, 21.7% housewives and 25.6% students by occupation and with respect to marital status 49.6% were married and 43.4% were single. Moreover, 20.8% of households had female heads.
Objectives The primary purpose of this surveillance system is to monitor basic vital events indicators and generate relevant health, demographic and socioeconomic information for policies and programs. In addition, the center supports graduate and post graduate level research undertakings and conduct molecular to population level collaborative research with local and international stakeholders. Priority research areas Different need based researches are conducted and the main research focus areas include malaria, causes of death using verbal autopsy, maternal and child health, mental health and chronic non-communicable diseases Demographic Characteristics Crude Birth Rate (CBR) Total Fertility Rate (TFR) Crude Death Rate (CDR) Neonatal Mortality Post-neonatal Mortality Infant Mortality Under five Mortality Rate of Natural Increase In-Migration Out-Migration Net Growth rate 35.8 per 1000 mid-year population 5.0 per woman 7.7 per 1000 mid-year population 37.8 per 1000 live births 30.8 per 1000 live births 68.6 per 1000 live births 100.4 per 1000 live births 2.8 per 100 mid-year population 36.6 per mid-year 1000 population 46.6 per 1000 mid-year population 1.7 per 100 mid-year population
Population Pyramid: Age and Sex structure of the population, Aug. 2011 Funders Jimma University from the government treasury Ethiopian Public Health Association through CDC Collaborators Emory University, USA Michigan University, USA Brown University, USA Key Publications 1. Amare Deribew, Fasil Tessema, Belaineh Girma. Determinants of under five mortality in Gilgel Gibe Field Research Center, South West Ethiopia. Ethiopian Journal of Health Dev., 2007; 21(2). 2. Craig Hadley, Ayalew Tegegn, Fasil Tessema, Makonnen Asefa, & Sandro Galea. Parental Symptoms of Common Mental Disorders and Children s Social, Motor, and Language Development in Sub-Saharan Africa. Annals of Human Biology, 2008; 35(3): 259-275
3. C Hadley, A Tegegn, F Tessema, J A Cowan, M Asefa, & S Galea. Food Insecurity, stressful life events and symptoms of anxiety and depression in East Africa: evidence from the Gilgel Gibe growth and development study. J. Epidemiol Community Health, 2008; 62: 980-986 4. Margaret E. Kruk, Magdalena M. Paczkowski, Ayalew Tegegn, Fasil Tessema, Craig Hadley, Makonnen Asefa & Sandro Galea. Women s preference for obstetric care in rural Ethiopia: a population-based discrete choice experiment in a region with low rates of facility delivery. J. Epidemiol Community Health, 12 October 2009 5. Mary-Christine Sullivan, Ayalew Tegegn, Fasil Tessema, Sandro Galea, Craig Hadley. Minding the Immunization Gap: Family Characteristics Associated with Completion Rates in Rural Ethiopia. J Community Health, 2010; 35: 53-59 6. Amare Deribew, Fessehaye Alemseged, Fasil Tessema, Lelisa Sena, Zewdie Birhanu, Ahmed Zeynudin, Morankar Sudhakar, Nasir Abdo, Kebede Deribe, Sibhatu Biadgilign. Malaria and Under-Nutrition: A Community Based Study among Under-Five Children at Risk of Malaria, South-West Ethiopia. PLoS ONE, May 2010; 5(5): 1-6. 7. Amare Deribew, Fessehaye Alemseged, Zewdie Birhanu, Lelisa Sena, Ayalew Tegegn, Ahmed Zeynudin, Tariku Dejene, Morankar Sudhakar, Nasir Abdo and Fasil Tessema. Effect of training on the use of long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets on the burden of malaria among vulnerable groups, south-west Ethiopia: baseline results of a cluster randomized trial. Malaria Journal, 2010; 9:121 - http://www.malariajournal.com/content/9/1/121 8. Abdulrahman M El-Sayed, Craig Hadley, Fasil Tessema, Ayelew Tegegn, John A Cowan Jr and Sandro Galea. Household food insecurity and symptoms of neurologic disorder in Ethiopia: An observational analysis BMC Public Health 2010, 10:802 doi:10.1186/1471-2458-10-802. 9. David P. Lindstrom, Tefera Belachew, Craig Hadley, Megan Klein Hattori, Dennis Hogan, and Fasil Tessema. Non-marital Sex and Condom Knowledge among Ethiopian Young People: Improved Estimates Using a Nonverbal Response Card. Studies in Family Planning, 2010; 41 (4): 251-62 10. Laura Anderson, Ayalew Tegegn, Fasil Tessema, Sandro Galea, and Craig Hadley. Food Security, Childhood Illness and maternal emotional distress in Ethiopia. Public Health Nutrition, 2011; DOI: 10.1017/S1368980011001340
11. David P. Lindstrom, Megan Klein Hattori, Tefera Belachew, Fasil Tessema. Lifting the Curtain on the Conditions of Sexual Initiation Among Youth in Ethiopia. Journal of Adolescent Health, 2012; 50 (6), 614-620