Self-reported disability in relation to mortality in rural Malawi: a longitudinal study of over 16 000 adults.

Objectives: We investigated whether self-reported disability was associated with mortality in adults in rural Malawi.

Setting: Karonga Health and Demographic Surveillance Site (HDSS), Northern Malawi.

Participants: All adults aged 18 and over residing in the HDSS were eligible to participate.

Reliability of reporting of HIV status and antiretroviral therapy usage during verbal autopsies: a large prospective study in rural Malawi.

Objective: Verbal autopsies (VAs) are interviews with a relative or friend of the deceased; VAs are a technique used in surveillance sites in many countries with incomplete death certification. The goal of this study was to assess the accuracy and validity of data on HIV status and antiretroviral therapy (ART) usage reported in VAs and their influence on physician attribution of cause of death.

Design: This was a prospective cohort study.

Patterns and risk factors for deaths from external causes in rural Malawi over 10 years: a prospective population-based study.

Background: Little is known about the pattern or risk factors for deaths from external causes in sub-Saharan Africa: there is a lack of reliable data, and public health priorities have been focussed on other causes. This study assessed the prevalence and risk factor for deaths from external causes in rural Malawi.

Methods: We analysed data from 2002-2012 from the Karonga demographic surveillance site which covers ~35,000 people in rural northern Malawi.

Measuring causes of adult mortality in rural northern Malawi over a decade of change.

Background: Verbal autopsy could be more widely used if interpretation by computer algorithm could be relied on. We assessed how InterVA-4 results compared with clinician review in diagnosing HIV/AIDS-related deaths over the period of antiretroviral (ART) roll-out.

Design: In the Karonga Prevention Study demographic surveillance site in northern Malawi, all deaths are followed by verbal autopsy using a semi-structured questionnaire.

Child mortality in rural Malawi: HIV closes the survival gap between the socio-economic strata.

Background: As HIV-related deaths increase in a population the usual association between low socioeconomic status and child mortality may change, particularly as death rates from other causes decline.

Methods/principal Findings: As part of a demographic surveillance system in northern Malawi in 2002-6, covering a population of 32,000, information was collected on socio-economic status of the households. Deaths were classified as HIV/AIDS-related or not by verbal autopsy.

Estimating the need for antiretroviral treatment and an assessment of a simplified HIV/AIDS case definition in rural Malawi.

Background: Surveillance in the era of antiretroviral therapy (ART) requires estimates of HIV prevalence as well as the proportion eligible for ART. We estimated HIV prevalence and assessed field staging of individuals to estimate the burden of HIV disease needing treatment in rural Malawi.

Methods: Adults aged 18-59 years in a demographic surveillance system were interviewed, examined, and HIV counselled and tested.