The colleagues from the Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) of the University of Pretoria, Wits Vida unit and the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) gathered at the University of Pretoria’s Prinshof campus for a series of SAMRC South African Population Research Infrastructure Network (SAPRIN) workshops hosted by FHS Research Support Hub. The FHS Dean, Prof Tiaan de Jager commended the team for this collaborative research capacity building.

The three-day workshop was organised by the FHS Research Coordinator, Anwani Nekhumbe, the Faculty and scheduled for the 2nd, 9th and 10th of October 2023. These workshops were aimed at introducing the SAPRIN Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) nodes, enabling access to SAPRIN data in all the nodes and advancing health researchers’ knowledge of data science.

Prof Tivani Mashamba-Thompson, Deputy Dean of Research and Postgraduate Studies at the Faculty of Health Sciences at UP, welcomed the facilitators of the workshop and expressed her gratitude for supporting the Faculty’s research capacity building efforts in the area of data science. Both Facilitators are expert Data Scientists under SAPRIN. SAPRIN hosts HDSS nodes that support improvements in health, social and economic well-being in impoverished populations. It was established in 2017 as part of the Department of Science and Innovation’s South African Research Infrastructure Roadmap (SARIR), which aims to enhance research capacity in the country. HDSS nodes data is a standardized, field-based information system and research platform. Prospective longitudinal data is collected from entire populations at both individual and household levels, in impoverished and developmentally constrained communities. The data from HDSS sites can provide current, representative, longitudinal data of South Africa’s disparate communities.

The first day presented by Dr Linda Maoyi, Senior Data Specialist who is based from the KwaZulu Natal SAPRIN HDSS. The first day focused on the introductory lessons to the HDSS nodes and longitudinal analysis. He gave a detailed overview the use of SAPRIN data for health research and how it can fit into the open science data ecosystem within Southern Africa.

Dr Linda Maoyi.

Day two and three were presented by Prof Mark Collinson, Co-Director of the DSI/MRC SAPRIN, Reader in Population and Public Health at the Wits University Agincourt Research Unit, School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand.

During day two, Prof Collinson focused on the introduction to Event History Analysis (EHA) using HDSS data and enabled by Stata 18 software wherein (1) Conceptual frameworks and data preparation and (2) Mortality rate age-sex profiles and trends were discussed.

HDSS analysts can use EHA techniques to produce new insights in population, health and socio-economic dynamics:

• Accurately measure trends in health, population, social and economic indicators, and causal mechanisms
• A platform for intervention research and policy evaluation
• Calibration and validation of national datasets

Prof Mark Collinson.

Day three of the workshop focused on Mortality Analysis wherein (1) Out-migration rate age-sex profiles and trends and (2) In-migration rate age-sex profiles and trends. The workshop was interactive, allowing participants a one-on-one opportunity to interact with the presenter. Practical sessions were included to test understanding, both theoretical and practical where HDSS data was analysed using Stata software. SAPRIN HDSS data is available for download on the SAPRIN Data Repository for research purposes. A follow-up workshop for verbal autopsies for HDSS nodes was recommended.