Population mobility and household dynamics in rural South Africa: implications for demographic and health research.

Abstract

Rural areas of South Africa are characterised by highly mobile populations with high rates of circular migration and fluid household and social relationships. The health and demography of South Africa is undergoing substantial changes as a result of the rapidly progressing HIV epidemic. Consequently, for researchers and policy makers, high quality longitudinal socio-demographic and health data from affected areas is critically important. Sociologists and anthropologists have long commented on the conceptual limitations of the social data collected by demographic and health surveys, censuses and demographic surveillance system data. This paper describes a study of households in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, that used qualitative approaches to inform the design of a large, demographic surveillance system. Using in-depth interviews with members of 60 households this research examined local descriptions and categorisations of social structures and processes such as households, residency, intraand inter-household relationships, parenting, partnerships, and household authority. Thirty-five percent of the total household population were non-resident, 41 per cent of all adult members and 29 per cent of all child members were non-resident. We compare our findings with those obtained by applying standard definitions used in most other demographic and health surveys and censuses. We discuss the research potential in modifying population-based data collection instruments to model the complex and dynamic nature of social arrangements in rural areas of southern Africa.