Center for Population Health

 

The Centre for Population Health (CPH) at UGHE’s Institute of Global Health Equity Research hosts population health research, teaching, and training. The centre is the main hub for research, education, and field innovation at UGHE and stimulates ongoing activities in this area. The center is in the process of setting up a Health Development and Demographic Surveillance Site (known as HD²SS or HDSS) in Butaro which will generate much-needed evidence in disease surveillance, morbidity and mortality patterns, chronic disease research, social science, nutrition and child health in Rwanda and the region. Our long-term goal is to design and test locally relevant health interventions to answer the most critical health problems. 

Vision

To generate and disseminate evidence to inform policies and practices that improve population health and reduce health inequities. 

Mission

To conduct population health research and train the next generation of population health leaders and critical mass of scientists to change the way healthcare is delivered to reduce health inequities. 

What We Do 

Population Health Research  
  1. Health and Demographic Surveillance Site (HDSS) in rural Butaro which acts as main field research sites for UGHE community and beyond: The HDSS will gather longitudinal data in an open cohort of the total population in Butaro (N~38,000). The established HDSS program will integrate population and health facility data systems linking demographic, epidemiological, mortality, morbidity, clinical, laboratory, household, environmental, health systems, and other contextual data, with a unique participant identification system throughout. 
  2. Healthy aging and multimorbidity population-based project in urban and rural Rwanda: The Healthy Aging Study is a large household survey of over 4,300 individuals covering 127 villages in Burera district in the Northern province and in Gasabo, Nyarugenge, and Kicukiro districts in Kigali. The mixed methods study aims to determine the burden of multimorbidity, frailty, and experiences and responsiveness of care in older people (40 years and above). It explores the health system’s capacity and gaps in delivering effective primary care to older people in Rwanda. The results of this project will inform policymakers and drive meaningful discussions that will lead to improvements in healthcare delivery for aging populations in Rwanda. The project is a collaboration between UGHE, the Rwanda Biomedical Center, Northwestern University, USA, and the University of Birmingham, UK. 
  3. Life course epidemiology of maternal nutrition during pregnancy, birth weight, and child health later in life: This is a birth cohort study of 1200 pregnant women recruited during 2nd trimester of pregnancy and followed up until birth. Using life course epidemiology, we aim to explore effects of maternal nutrition on perinatal outcomes, birth weight, and child growth. 
  4. Early life exposures and chronic disorders later in childhood and beyond: Using the existing birth cohort,  we are exploring differences in metabolic adaptations during mid and late pregnancy between populations in Rwanda and Germany. 
  5. Health system resilience during health shocks: We used an implementation science approach to explore evidence of health system resilience in primary healthcare interventions in Rwanda and Bangladesh. 
Teaching and Learning 

The centre contributes to the evidence-based global health delivery and research methods modules for Master of Science in Global Health Delivery (MGHD) and Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) students at UGHE. The center also provides implementation research training and seminars to students and researchers. The established HDSS research program will support the PhD training program at UGHE. 

Community Engagement 

The Centre for Population Health works closely with the Community Engagement team at UGHE and the  Department of Community Health and Social Medicine. Community engagement is central to the HDSS program. 

Newsroom: Highlights of research projects

 From March 20-23, 2024, a delegation  composed of a multi-disciplinary team from UGHE (Community Health and Social Medicine, Institute of Global Health Equity Research, and Information Technology) and Partners In Health/Inshuti Mu Buzima visited the Rakai Health Sciences Program (RHSP) located in Rakai district, Uganda. This is one of the oldest HDSS sites in Africa. The purpose of the visit was to establish both academic and research partnerships between the two institutions and to gain insights on how to successfully establish and sustain the Butaro Health Demographic Surveillance Site. 

In early May 2024, a dynamic workshop took place at New York University Abu Dhabi (NYU Abu Dhabi), marking a significant milestone for the Center for Population Health at UGHE. Faculty from UGHE, the Technical University of Munich (TUM), and NYU Abu Dhabi collaborated to hold the workshop from May 8–10, advancing the establishment of an HD2SS system in Butaro. This followed an important preliminary visit by our collaborators from TUM and NYU Abu Dhabi to Butaro in January 2024, during which they engaged in initial discussions and examined the geographical location of the HDSS.  

In late May 2024, Dr. Michael Boah, representing the CPH, participated in the African Population Cohorts Consortium (APCC) Blueprint Conference, which took place in Cape Town from May 27–28, 2024. This event brought together leading researchers from Health and Demographic Surveillance Sites, policymakers, practitioners, and funders to discuss and advance the study of population health across Africa. The realization that a consortium of population cohorts in Africa can contribute massively to harnessing Africa’s genetic, socioeconomic, cultural, and environmental diversity for scientific discovery underlies the efforts of the Collaboration for the Establishment of an African Population Cohort Consortium (CE-APCC). The Butaro HD2SS has been formally registered and has joined the consortium.  

Partnerships   

  • Rwanda Ministry of Health  
  • Rwanda Biomedical Centre 
  • National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda 
  • Partners In Health/Inshuti Mu Buzima, Rwanda  
  • Northwestern University, USA 
  • University of Birmingham, UK 
  • Technical University of Munich, Germany  
  • New York University Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates 
  • The Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, USA 
  • Duke University, USA 
  • The George Institute, Australia 
  • Leipzig University, Germany 
  • Rakai Health Sciences Program, Uganda 
  • Aga Khan University Hospital, Kenya 
  • Harvard University, USA 

Click Here to Access the Centre’s Publications

Meet the Centre’s Team

Contact Information

For inquiries and collaboration opportunities, feel free to reach out to us through email: ughe-population-center@ughe.org  or through Dr. Alemayehu Amberbir, Chair of the Center for Population Health: aamberbir@ughe.org