African Demography
Overview
Map depicting PSTC research presence
Research ProjectsOverview
PSTC research in Africa has flourished in recent years. Fully 40% of PSTC associates are involved in research on African demography, making the PSTC's engagement in this area distinctive among population centers. PSTC research in Africa spans the disciplines and is characterized by substantial involvement in primary data collection, policy relevance, capacity-building, and collaboration with African institutional partners in six countries (Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Nigeria, and South Africa). We provide synopses of current and recent funded research activities in project descriptions below.Beyond its research, the PSTC is engaged in many other activities in Africa. The PSTC has a strong training and mentoring presence in sub-Saharan Africa. Many current and recent graduate students have conducted original research in Africa. Additionally, 6 current PSTC trainees are African students. The PSTC's African institutional partners and alumni networks help to identify promising young African scholars. The PSTC has a strong record of placing African alumni in key research and policy positions.
Additionally, the PSTC is an active participant in the Wits-Brown-Colorado-APHRC consortium, which includes two US population centers (Brown and the University of Colorado, Boulder) and two African institutions (University of Witwatersrand in South Africa and the African Population and Health Research Center in Kenya). The goal is to promote African demography and the enhancement of population infrastructure in Africa, through exchange among scholars and staff at participating institutions. Annually, associated scholars participate in a lively two-day colloquium held at a member institution that includes paper presentations, panel discussions on organizational and ethical issues, and collaborative research meetings. Six colloquia have been held thus far, with a seventh meeting planned for May 2009 at the University of Colorado.
Map
The map below provides a visual depiction of PSTC research engagement in Africa, and highlights countries where PSTC faculty and graduate students have a research presence.
Project Title: The Effects of Health and Demographic Change on Economic Growth: Integrating Micro and Macro Perspectives
Principal Investigators: Andrew Foster, David Weil
Funding: Hewlett/PRB
Thematic Areas: Social Behavior and Health
Description: This project will augment and promote the integration of five on-going projects based in the Department of Economics and the Population Studies and Training Center at Brown. The focus will be on the long term effects of early child health and nutrition on adult productivity, the role of effective disease management in increasing the economic activity of diseased adults, the role of health and demographic change in the sustainable use of environmental resources, and the effects of changes in health and demographic structure on the level and distribution of economic activity.Project Title: Food Security Among Resettled Refugees
PSTC Investigators: Craig Hadley
Funding: NSF
Thematic Areas: Families and Households, Social Behavior and Health
Description: This project will produce estimates of the magnitude of the food insecurity situation in two resettled refugee communities, and will be the largest study of refugee health, and the only longitudinal study to date. By testing multiple determinants of health it will provide a nuanced understanding of what factors most influence health and well being in this vulnerable population. Results from the proposed research will have implications for several areas within anthropology including the health impacts of forced immigration, the relationship between culture and health, the causes of health disparities, and the use of anthropological methods to identify health-related issues relevant to study communities.
Project Title: Adolescents' Child Feeding Knowledge and Intentions
Funding: NICHD
PSTC Investigators: Craig Hadley
Thematic Areas: Families and Households, Social Behavior and Health
Description: The proposed research seeks to explore current knowledge of child feeding practices and examining child feeding intentions among a diverse sample of Ethiopian adolescents. The main outcomes of interest are adolescents' knowledge and attitudes about specific feeding issues, and their intentions to exclusively breastfeed their children to six months, introduce appropriate foods starting at six months, and not use bottles to feed infants. Exposure to potential points of delivery for nutrition education programs will also be examined. Results from this proposed work will be among the first to report on adolescents' knowledge and intentions regarding infant and child feeding in the developing world, and will be useful as baseline data in this specific case, but will also have programmatic implications for public health interventions more broadly.
Project Title: Childcare in Challenging Environments: Identifying Barriers to Optimal Childcare Practice in Rural Tanzania
PSTC Investigators: Craig Hadley
Funding: NSF
Thematic Areas: Families and Households, Social Behavior and Health
Description: This project supports ethnographic research into the causes and consequences of dramatic differences in the nutritional status of children from two ethnic groups living in rural Tanzania. Despite the same ecological, political, and physical environment, children of the agropastoralist Sukuma ethnic group have significantly lower rates of childhood stunting and underweight when compared to their neighbors, the horticulturalist Pimbwe, leading one to ask whether these differences in nutritional status reflect different risks of child mortality. Furthermore, if growth differences are related to young child feeding and care practices, why are the Sukuma are able to more closely conform to optimal practices when the Pimbwe cannot? This research conducted a cross-sectional study of the relationship between child growth and young child feeding and maternal caregiving behavior among Pimbwe and Sukuma children less than three years of age, followed by a one year prospective study of whether infant and child feeding and maternal care practices are associated with children’s weight gain and child mortality. This research seeks to tease apart the impact of family structure, economy, cultural beliefs, and maternal health on patterns of child feeding and care practices.Project Title: Gender and HIV Risk Among Young Adults
PSTC Investigators: Abigail Harrison (L. O'Sullivan, PI)
Funding: NICHD
Thematic Areas: Fertility and HIV/AIDS, Social Behavior and Health
Description: Study of relationships among young adult men and women in school-based settings in New York and South Africa; development of questionnaires and scale measures to assess gender attributes in relation to risk for HIV infection; in-depth qualitative investigation of relationships and prevention.Project Title: Promoting Dual Protection Among Rural South African Youth
PSTC Investigators: Abigail Harrison (T. Exner, PI)
Funding: NICHD
Thematic Areas: Fertility and HIV/AIDS, Social Behavior and Health
Description: Study of relationships among young adult men and women in school-based settings in New York and South Africa; development of questionnaires and scale measures to assess gender attributes in relation to risk for HIV infection; in-depth qualitative investigation of relationships and prevention.
Project Title: The Cultural Context of Infertility in Southern Nigeria: Meanings, Consequences and Coping Mechanisms
PSTC Investigators: Marida Hollos (Ulla Larsen, PI)
Funding: NSF
Thematic Areas: Families and Households, Fertility and HIV/AIDS, Social Behavior and Health
Description: This research seeks to advance understanding of the cultural perceptions and social consequences of infertility in sub-Saharan Africa among the Ijo and Yakurr communities of southern Nigeria. It examines structural differences between these populations in order to analyze the link between descent and gender ideology on the one hand, and the perception of infertility and the treatment of infertile women on the other. The study is important for understanding the cultural perceptions and social consequences of infertility in sub-Saharan African societies.
Project Title: Partnership for Improving Adolescent Reproductive Health in Ethiopia
PSTC Investigators: David Lindstrom (PI), Dennis Hogan, Craig Hadley,
Stephen McGarvey
Funding: David and Lucile Packard Foundation
Thematic Areas: Families and Households, Fertility and HIV/AIDS, Social Behavior and Health
Description: The primary goals of this project are to: (1) enhance Ethiopian university-based capacity to train graduate students in population and health research and in the translation of research results into policy-relevant conclusions and recommendations; (2) build a regional population database of families and youth for program evaluation, policy analysis, and scholarly research, which will serve as a model for university-based population and health research teams in other regions of the country; (3) measure the relative impact of radio serial dramas on adolescent reproductive health knowledge and behavior, and make recommendations regarding investments in radio dramas as an intervention strategy for reaching youth and influencing their behavior; (4) demonstrate the potential value of longitudinal surveys for assessing the impact of reproductive health interventions; (5) develop capacity to effectively communicate demographic and health research findings to local and national reproductive health stakeholders; and (6) increase knowledge of factors that place youth at high risk of poor health and early life outcomes, as well as identify those program interventions and features of family and community life that are protective of youth and lead to good health and successful outcomes in life.
Project Title: Research for Improving Adolescent Reproductive Health in Ethiopia
PSTC Investigators: David Lindstrom (PI), Dennis Hogan, Craig Hadley
Funding: David and Lucile Packard Foundation
Thematic Areas: Families and Households, Fertility and HIV/AIDS, Social Behavior and Health
Description: The project will provide the only comprehensive assessment of program reach based on representative survey data taken in selected target areas. It lays the foundation for developing an understanding of the determinants of early life course transitions for youth that will be important for designing effective program interventions. The project activities will be based at the Department of Population and Family Health (DPFH), Jimma University, and the Population Studies and Training Center (PSTC), Brown University. The project builds on investments made in establishing a reproductive health research infrastructure during the first phase of funding from the Packard Foundation, putting to full use computing infrastructure and trained research personnel, and it enhances longer-term research capacity by partnering international and Ethiopian researchers.
Learn more at the Project WebsiteProject Title: Analyzing the Effectiveness of a Non-Verbal Response Card: Evidence from Ethiopia
PSTC Investigators: David Lindstrom (PI), Dennis Hogan
Funding: NIH/NIAID
Thematic Areas: Social Behavior and Health
Description: The purpose of this proposed study is to examine the effectiveness of the non-verbal response card method for reducing reporting bias, and to estimate the nature and extent of reporting bias for sensitive questions about sexual behavior that are asked in many standard demographic surveys. Specifically, the proposed study will: (1) assess the capacity of respondents to correctly use the non-verbal response card method; (2) measure the direction and magnitude of reporting bias for different types of questions and for different population subgroups; (3) assess the potential impact of reporting bias on coefficients in multivariate regression models that use responses to questions on sexual attitudes and experiences to model sexual behavior; and (4) use multivariate models to identify population subgroups for whom reporting bias is the most severe.
Project Title: Response to Sexual Risk in a High HIV/AIDS Environment
PSTC Investigators: Nancy Luke
Funding: World Bank
Thematic Areas: Fertility and HIV/AIDS, Social Behavior and Health
Description: This project supports the analysis of the effect of social institutions, including marriage and economic exchange, on sexual behavior and labor market outcomes among male migrants to Kisumu, Kenya, using survey data collected in 2001.
Project Title: Using Relationship Calendars to Improve Sexual Behavior Data Among Kenyan Couples
PSTC Investigators: Nancy Luke
Funding: NICHD
Thematic Areas: Fertility and HIV/AIDS, Social Behavior and Health
Description: This project will provide researchers with proven data collection methods so information can be analyzed to understand how relationship histories and couple dynamics affect the sexual risk behaviors and reproductive health of young women and men in Kisumu, Kenya, a low-income urban setting where young women and their male partners are affected by high rates of unintended pregnancy and STIs, including HIV.
Project Title: The Public Health Impact of Antiretroviral Therapy in South Africa
PSTC Investigators: Mark Lurie
Funding: NIH / NIMH
Thematic Areas: Fertility and HIV/AIDS, Social Behavior and Health
Description: This project, conducted in collaboration with colleagues at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa, collects data on sexual behavior and incidence of sexually transmitted infections among people who are co-infected with TB and HIV and who are on antiretroviral therapy within an existing randomized controlled trial. This and other data will be used to develop mathematical models to estimate the public health impact of HIV treatment in terms of secondary transmission averted.
Project Title: Collaborative AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA)
PSTC Investigators: Mark Lurie (S. Abdool Karim, PI)
Funding: NIH
Thematic Areas: Fertility and HIV/AIDS, Social Behavior and Health
Description: The project will undertake globally relevant and locally responsive research that contributes to understanding HIV pathogenesis and epidemiology as well as the nexus between tuberculosis and AIDS care; to build local research infrastructure through cores of expertise; and to provide training through research fellowships tenable both in South Africa and the USA.
Project Title: Family Organization and Child Well-Being in Southern Africa
PSTC Investigators: Susan Short (PI), Abigail Harrison
Funding: NICHD
Thematic Areas: Fertility and HIV/AIDS, Social Behavior and Health
Description: This research investigates the relationship between family organization and child well-being in Southern Africa, a region with substantial variation and change in children's living arrangements due to the current HIV/AIDS epidemic.Project Title: Love, Marriage, and HIV: A Multi-site Study of Gender and HIV Risk
PSTC Investigators: Daniel J. Smith (Jennifer Hirsch, PI)
Funding: NIH (Subcontract with Columbia Univ.)
Thematic Areas: Fertility and HIV/AIDS, Social Behavior and Health
Description: Smith is one of five investigators from five universities in this comparative ethnographic study that explores the relationship between changing conceptions and practices of marriage, gender inequality, and HIV risk in five countries (Nigeria, Mexico, Vietnam, Uganda, and Papua New Guinea). Smith is responsible for the Nigeria research. This research explores the proposition that married women living in social contexts of persistent gender inequality and economic contexts of under- or unemployment and labor migration are placed uniquely at risk for HIV infection by the worldwide diffusion of an ideology of marriage as a relationship based on romantic love and companionship between equal partners. The project's specific aims are: 1) to compare, across five developing country sites, the relative penetration of ideas and practices associated with compassionate marriage and the specific forms of marital and extramarital relationships; 2) to understand and explain the ways in which these ideas about and practices of intimacy are shaped and constrained by gender-unequal structures and ideologies, local forms of economic organization, and cultural change; and 3) to evaluate the implications of these ideas and practices for HIV prevention within and outside of marriage. The project’s methodology promises to demonstrate value of a comparative ethnographic approach in which qualitative research is used not just to uncover data in one particular context in greater depth, but to enable cross-cultural comparisons based on ethnographic research.
Project Title: Household-Level Effects on HIV/AIDS Mortality
PSTC Investigators: Nicholas Townsend (Sangeetha Madhavan, PI)
Funding: NIH
Thematic Areas: Families and Households, Fertility and HIV/AIDS, Social Behavior and Health
Description: This proposal addresses the effects of HIV/AIDS-related morbidity and mortality on household structure, composition, power dynamics and children's living arrangements. HIV/AIDS has attained epidemic proportions in sub-Saharan Africa over the past 10 years with particularly high prevalence rates in southern Africa.Project Title: Measuring Social Connection and Children's Well-Being Using Multiple Data Sources
PSTC Investigators: Nicholas Townsend, John Logan
Thematic Areas: Spatial Inquiry, Social Behavior and Health, Families and Households
Funding: NICHD
Description: The research will develop improved measures of social connection through coordinated analyses of intensive ethnographic data and a longitudinal demographic data about the same population in a rural area of South Africa. A great volume of research conducted in various contexts demonstrates that social connection is an important determinant of well-being measured by outcomes such as education, nutritional status, employment prospects, access to health care, and support of the aged and infirm. The most common measure of social connection in population and public health research is co-residence, which has critical limitations. Failure to attend to the full range of social relationships limits our ability to understand the social context of health and well-being. To redress this failure, we will use existing ethnographic data and longitudinal demographic data from rural South Africa to develop new measures of social connection that can be used in social surveys.
Project Title: Urbanization, Health and Environmental Quality in Coastal Ghana
PSTC Investigators: Michael White (PI), Stephen McGarvey
Funding: NIH
Thematic Areas: Spatial Inquiry, Social Behavior and Health, Population and Environment
Description: This project will draw upon existing links among three currently collaborating institutions to examine the social and demographic processes that are closely linked to health and environmental health risks and how these in turn influence local thinking about environmental issues.
Learn more at the Project Website
