LEVEL 1

SEMESTER II

DEM102: Introduction to Demography

Nature and scope of Demography; Sources of Demographic data: census, surveys, vital statistical systems, population registers, non-traditional sources; Errors in demographic data, Population growth and change, Population distribution: Age and sex composition of population, measures and population pyramid, Fertility (measures and conceptual issues, levels, trends, and determinants), Mortality (measures and conceptual issues, levels, trends, and determinants) and Migration (measures and conceptual issues, levels, trends, and determinants) Introduction to Population and Development.

LEVEL 2

SEMESTER III

DEM211: Demographic Methods ISome Basic Demographic Concept and Measures; Fertility and Reproductivity: General definitions and concepts,Basic fertility and reproductivity measures,Parity progression ratios; Mortality and Morbidity:Basic definitions and concepts, Measures of mortality and morbidity,Methods for adjusting IMR,Causes of death,Sex differentials in mortality; Standardization and Decomposition of Rates. Practicals: include the use of a statistical calculator and Microsoft Excel for computing demographic measures and concepts. DEM213: Collection and Assessment of Demographic Data

Concepts in the collection of data; Classification of data; Types of Demographic Statistics; Collection of Main Sources of Demographic Statistics; Direct Methods: Re-interviews and Post-enumeration check surveys; Indirect Methods: Internal consistency checks: Vertical consistency, Horizontal consistency and Diagonal consistency; Adjustment of Data: Prorating for population of unknown age; Method of moving averages; Osculatory interpolation; Further Developments: Innovations in Demographic data collection and new sources of demographic data; Collection and analysis of qualitative data. Practicals: include the use of a statistical calculator and Microsoft Excel for computing demographic measures and concepts.

DEM 215: Population Dynamics I

The dynamics of Population Change; Processes of Population Change: Fertility Indices, Patterns and Trends, Mortality Indices, Patterns and Trends; Population Doctrines: Malthusian Theory to Demographic Transition Theory; World Population Trends: Agrarian and Industrial Revolutions and Population Trends in Less Developed Countries; Population and Development Interrelations: Theories and Consequences; Controlling Population Growth: Women and Development and Population Policies.

LEVEL 2 SEMESTER IV

DEM212: Demographic Methods II

Life Tables; Types of life tables, Uses of life tables, Construction of abridged life table, Stationary population concept, Multiple decrement tables, Construction of multiple decrement tables, Introduction to survival analysis, Advantages of survival analysis, Estimation of mortality using survival analysis; Nuptiality: Definition of terms, Basic measures, Singulate mean age at marriage, Nuptiality tables construction; Migration:  Basic concepts, Types of migration, Methods of estimating internal migration, Migration effectiveness, Migration expectancy; Introduction to Population Projection:Basic concepts and definitions, Methods of Population projections, Uses of population projections and estimates; Introduction to Stable population theory: Characteristics of stable populations, Intrinsic rate of growth, Mean length of a generation. Practicals: include the use of a statistical calculator and Microsoft Excel for computing certain calculations.

DEM214: Quantitative Methods in Demography

Introduction to quantitative methods; Collection of data ; Sampling and Surveys; Presentation of data: tabular and graphical form; measures of central tendency and dispersion: mean, median, mode, variance, standard deviation; Basic Probability; Probability distributions; Discrete and continuous; Sampling Distributions; Point and interval estimation; Determination of sample size; Hypotheses testing:  small and large samples, comparing two treatments; Regression: Measures of relationships and correlation ; Analysis of categorical data: Chi-square test of independence and goodness of fit; Analysis of variance (ANOVA); Demographic computer packages. Practicals: Use of calculators and statistical tables to carry out basic calculations.

DEM216: Population Dynamics II

Factors Influencing Vital Processes: Fertility –  Theories and Fertility Transition in sub-Saharan Africa, Socio-economic factors, Socio-cultural factors, Women’s Status and Fertility; Mortality and Morbidity – Epidemiological and Health Transitions, Social and Environmental Factors, Standards of Living, Mortality and Fertility; Migration – Indices, Theories, Patterns and Trends, Causes and Consequences; Urbanisation: Causes and Consequences.

LEVEL 3 SEMESTER V

DEM311: Population Estimates and Projections

Introduction: Need for population estimates; Role and importance of population projections and forecasts; Types of population estimates: censuses; surveys; analytical techniques; Methods of estimating population: interpolation and extrapolation methods; Sub-national projections: Ratio method and multiregional projection models; Model Population Projections; National Projection: cohort-component method, census-cohort change method and period fertility methods; Software applications. Practicals: include the use of a statistical calculator and Microsoft Excel for computing demographic measures and concepts. Software applications (spectrum-DEMPROJ, MORTPAK, RUP etc.)

DEM315: Gender and Reproductive Health

Overview of basic concepts; Theories related to gender; Gender as a contributing factor to Sexual and Reproductive Health; Social construction of gender; Gender based violence; Gender inequalities and Reproductive Health; Family planning; Maternal health. Reproductive Health status in Eswatini; Reproductive Health programs and indicators; Global Reproductive Health policies.

DEM327: Indirect Techniques for Fertility Estimation

Introduction to indirect estimation: definitions, need and importance; Demographic models used in indirect estimation-Parametric and relational models used in indirect estimation of fertility and mortality, Coale and Trussell fertility model, Coale’s nuptuality model; Fertility: Evaluation of fertility data; The El-Badry correction Indirect estimation techniques of fertility- Brass P/F ratio: Children Ever Born, rationale of the relational Gompertz fertility model and reverse survival methods. Practicals: Computer applications of demographic data in various software:  developing own MS Excel spreadsheets, using population analysis spreadsheets (PASEX), IUSSP spreadsheets, application of demographic software- QFIVE, MORTPAK, etc. Calculator applications.

LEVEL 3: SEMESTER VI

DEM312: Demography of Eswatini

Sources of Demographic Data in Eswatini; Evaluation of Censuses of Eswatini: growth rate and sex ratios and survival ratio methods (Lifetable and Census survival ratios), forward survival and reverse survival methods,   Population Growth; Age and Sex Structure; Population Distribution: factors influencing population distribution, measures of population distribution; Population composition: Projecting population composition, Household headship method), Education Characteristics of the Population; Economic Activity; Fertility; Mortality and Morbidity; Internal Migration and Urbanization; International Migration; Family Planning.

DEM316: Research Techniques

Purpose and rational of research; Concept of sample size determination; Simple Random Sampling with and without replacements; Stratified sampling, Systematic sampling, Cluster sampling; Identification of a research problem; Writing a research proposal; design of a survey; method of data collection; Questionnaire design; Editing, coding, processing and analysis of data; reliability and validity, scale and index construction; Presentation of results and report writing; Footnotes and bibliographic entries.

DEM324: Introduction to Statistical Modelling for Demographers

Preliminary data analysis: Summarizing data and Data visualisation; Simple linear regression basics; causal explanation and multivariate analysis; Multiple regressions- Theory and assumptions; Multiple linear regressions with covariates; Models for discrete data in population studies; Logit regression models, Probit regression models; Multinomial logit regression models. Practicals: Any major statistical package (R, Stata, SPSS, etc) is used as a tool to aid calculations required for many of the techniques.

DEM328: Indirect Techniques for Mortality Estimation

Model life tables-United Nations; Coale and Demeny, Brass logit Mortality: Indirect estimation of child mortality; Indirect estimation techniques of adult mortality- Orphanhood methods, Widowhood methods, Maternal mortality-Sisterhood method, Rationale for evaluating data using models-Preston-Coale method, Brass-growth balance method Preston-Hill method, Bennet-Horiuchi method. Practicals: Computer/Software applications of the computational procedure of the indirect methods using MS Excel spreadsheets, PASEX, IUSSP spreadsheets, QFIVE, MORTPAK, etc. Calculator applications.

LEVEL 4 SEMESTER VII

DEM417: Population Ageing

Definitions, concepts and measures of population ageing; levels, trends, determinants and demographic implications of population ageing; social and economic aspects of population ageing; population ageing, well-being and quality of life of the elderly in Southern Africa: mortality,  morbidity, disability; Population planning and policy for ageing.

DEM421: Monitoring and Evaluation of Population Programmes

Overview of Monitoring and Evaluation (M & E), M&E Definitions and Concepts, M&E Plan and Development, Frameworks, Organisational structures (Overview of Organisational Structures for HIV M&E Systems, Types of Organisational Structures, M& E considerations in Organisational Structures, Designing and Aligning Organisational Structures for M&E), Indicators, Data Sources and Quality, Evaluation designs, Data analysis and dissemination, and Planning for Evaluation.

DEM423:  Demography of Labour Force

Demographic Aspects of Human Resources: Definitions, conceptual issues and measurement of workforce; Basic data needs for the demographic study of manpower; analytical frameworks of workforce/employment; Substantive aspects of labour force, mobility and status changes, Labour mobility and frontiers education, poverty, social exclusion and employment; population planning and workforce development- investment in human capital, manpower planning in Africa and Eswatini.

DEM425: Basic Epidemiology for Demographers

What is epidemiology-definitions, scope and uses of epidemiology, Achievements in epidemiology, Causation in Epidemiology- The concept of cause, establishing the cause of a disease, Epidemiological transitions, Biological/Genetic, Environmental, Behavioural/Cultural factors governing transitions. Scientific Concepts and Knowledge of Epidemiological Methods as applied to the health field-Observational epidemiology-descriptive, ecological, cross-sectional, case-control, cohort studies; confounding, Epidemiology and prevention: Chronic noncommunicable diseases-the scope of prevention, levels of prevention, screening, Communicable diseases: epidemiology surveillance and response- epidemic and endemic diseases, chain of infection, investigation and control of epidemics.

LEVEL 4

SEMESTER VIII

DEM422: Migration and the Life Course

Migration: definition of concepts; Migration methods: basic measures; Migration theories; Migration and development; Internal migration; International migration; Migration and health; Africa’s migration issues: Urban transition- drivers of urban transition, the proximate determinants of urban transition, consequences of urban transition; Policies, protocol and programmes on migration.

DEM424: Population and Development

Understanding the concepts of population and development; Population and development-historical perspective; How development affects population; How population affects development-The population-development debate; Fertility and socioeconomic development: Fertility and socioeconomic development: General pattern of fertility, Flow of wealth hypothesis, Poverty and fertility;  Mortality and socio-economic development: Role of development and medical improvements in reducing mortality, The Demographic Dividend; Population and environmental concerns.

DEM426: Population Policies and Programmes

Definition of terms; Rationale for a Population Policy; Economic, Social, Environmental, Administrative, Political; Elements of a Population Policy: Fertility, Mortality, Migration and Population Distribution; Population Policy Formulation: Inputs, Institutional and Legislative Support, Evaluation; National Population Programmes (NPPs) in Africa; International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD); Developmental Goals-SDGs. Selected examples of Policies from the Africa region.

DEM428: Intermediate Epidemiology for Demographers

Measures of occurrence: prevalence and incidence (Person time and population time), Linking exposure and disease: rate ratios, risk ratios, Prevalence ratios, Difference measures of attributive risk: Rate differences, Risk differences, attributive fraction, interpretation of attributive risks, Population attributive fraction. Measures of effect and association: Calculation and interpretation of Odds ratios, confidence intervals, association and confounders, methods for controlling for confounding: Sources of error in epidemiological studies: selection bias, Measurement or information error, systematic error, Random error, non-differential misclassification, validity and reliability and approaches to data analysis. Practicals: Using Statistical calculators and Computing software (STATA,R, SPSS).

DEM499: Research Project

Students are required to undertake either a theoretical or an empirical research project.  In addition to regular progress reports students explain the rationale of the research, its purpose, methodology, assumptions, hypotheses, data types and processing procedures, etc., in a seminar type meeting.

ELECTIVES

DEM317: Family and Household Demography

Brief history, Definition of concepts of household and family, Data and Measurement Issues; Trends in Households and Families, Family and Household Transition- diversity of household composition and family structure, empowerment of women, Proximate determinants of family and household changes-delayed marriage, cohabitation, nonmarital childbearing, childlessness, divorce, widowhood; Changing life chances-education, occupation, income, poverty/wealth and labour force participation; Consequences of family and household structure,  Economic and Social Welfare of Children.

DEM319 Population and the Environment

Introduction, Theories and basic concepts of population and the environment- The Tragedy of the commons & The Ultimate Resource by J Simon, Food by F.M Lappe and J Collins; Focus on the relationship between population and the environment- Population growth, food and the environment, Agriculture and Industrial Revolution; The Green Revolution; Demographic consequences of environmental change.

DEM326 Population and Development Planning

Application of basic techniques for measuring population and development; Parameters using relevant data; Integration of population variables into development planning; The health and mortality evolution, the fertility evolution, the migration evolution, the urban evolution, the family and household evolution, the age evolution, the urban evolution, Review the development and implementation of population policies; Sustainable development; Programmes and strategies with reference to Eswatini.

DEM429: Intermediate Statistical Modelling for Demographers

Models for count data in demographic behaviour studies; Recapping multiple linear regressions; Poisson models; Negative binomial; other counts models, Survival analyses: censoring and truncation; Non-Parametric Survival Models-the Kaplan-Meier estimator and Cox proportional hazards models. Practicals: Any major statistical package (R, Stata, SPSS, etc)  is used as a tool to aid calculations required for many of the techniques.

DEM431: Health Demography

Introduction to health demography; Health demography concepts; Data sources in health demography; Demographic determinants of health; Behaviour, lifestyles, and sociocultural factors of mortality; Demographic correlates of health behaviour and health services utilisation; Causes of death and its measures; Maternal mortality and its measures; Health and Epidemiological transition; Health policies; Reproductive health and its components.

DEM432: Social and Economic Demography

Functional demographic groups; age structures and social demands of youthful populations; theoretical perspectives on socio-demographic variables and fertility, Demography and social stratification- Stratification, mobility and inequality, Methods and measures, Intergenerational transfers and models, Social security and intergenerational transfers. Socio-demographic dynamics of rural households and homesteads.

DEM434: Population Health Metrics

Concepts and measures in population health; Defining Health, Population, and Population Health; Measuring Health, Wellbeing and Disease in Populations- Incidence, Prevalence, Frequency, and Intensity, Subjective Health, Mental Health, Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL), Disability and Functional Status; Measuring Mortality and Years of Potential Life Lost-Examining the Shape of Mortality and Morbidity – “Rectangularization” of Survival and Compression of Morbidity. Practicals: Using Statistical calculators and Computing software /applications to calculate various Health Metrics.