Demographic and health surveillance of mobile pastoralists in Chad: integration of biometric fingerprint identification into a geographical information system

Abstract

Abstract. There is a pressing need for baseline demographic and health-related data to plan, implement and evaluate health interventions in developing countries, and to monitor progress towards international development goals. However, mobile pastoralists, i.e. people who depend on a livestock production system and follow their herds as they move, remain marginalized from rural development plans and interventions. The fact that mobile people are hard to reach and stay in contact with is a plausible reason why they are underrepresented in national censuses and/or alternative sequential sample survey systems. We present a proof-of-concept of monitoring highly mobile, pastoral people by recording demographic and health-related data from 933 women and 2020 children and establishing a biometric identification system (BIS) based on the registration and identification of digital fingerprints. Although only 22 women, representing 2.4% of the total registered women, were encountered twice in the four survey rounds, the approach implemented is shown to be feasible. The BIS described here is linked to a geographical information system to facilitate the creation of the first health and demographic surveillance system in a mobile, pastoralist setting. Our ultimate goal is to implement and monitor interventions with the "one health" concept, thus integrating and improving human, animal and ecosystem health.

Factors influencing the utilization of maternal health care services by nomads in Sudan

“…Nomads in Sudan can move long distances with their livestock, searching for water and pasture. The movement and distribution of nomads in Sudan is influenced by a number of either environmental or human-related factors that determine their location: i) seasonal shortage of water; ii) density of biting flies; iii) a lack of salt in sand soil; and iv) the culture of the population (Weibel et al 2008). The western Figure 4 Maternal health care issues during the life cycle (Cohen and Burger 2000) part of Sudan, where the majority of nomads are found, has undergone civil war and unrest for a long time, which has adversely affected the availability of health care services (Assal 2009).…”

Estimating population and livestock density of mobile pastoralists and sedentary settlements in the south-eastern Lake Chad area

“…The method shows little promise in areas with many trees, where people and animals rest for protection from the sun. In the south-eastern Lake Chad area, Weibel et al (2008) tested an alternative method using random transects adapted from the capture-mark-recapture method developed for wildlife (Lindberg and Rexstad, 2006). Biometric fingerprints were used to uniquely identify women and children in mobile pastoralist camps because identification cards were seldom available.…”

Random demographic household surveys in highly mobile pastoral communities in Chad

“…Women participants were interviewed and their fingerprints were registered with a biometric fingerprint scanner for re-identification in a subsequent survey round. 12 Demographic data reported by mothers or female caregivers (year of birth, ethnic group, number of children who had died, age when child died and cause of death, and number of children alive at time of the interview, including, sex, age, date of death if deceased between survey rounds) have been collected by questionnaire interviews. The questionnaire was pre-tested on its feasibility with regard to time, The five survey rounds took place from March 2007 to January 2008.…”

“…The applied biometric fingerprint tool was crucial for unique identification of individuals, who did not have identification cards. 12 Due to the low numbers of registered women (5%, 56/1081) encountered twice, it was not possible to establish a cohort to capture changes in demographic and health parameters in this highly mobile community.…”