Full Member Longitudinal Population Study

General Population Cohort

General Population Cohort is a Longitudinal Population Study based in Uganda.

Population: 23,000
Established: 1989
Setting: Urban
Unit of observation: Individual household

Uganda Cohort site Uganda

About the cohort

The General Population Cohort (GPC) has been ongoing since 1989, established in Kyamulibwa sub-county, Kalungu district (carved out of Masaka district in 2010). In the 1980s, HIV/AIDS was an emerging priority, and, in response, the GPC was established with the main aim of understanding the epidemiology of HIV in the general population including quantifying the prevalence, spread, and determinants of HIV.

Read full cohort description

Data on HIV and demographic surveillance were collected annually. Since 2012, the GPC focus was broadened to include other communicable and non-communicable diseases in response to the evolving priorities. However, there is further need to make the GPC more impactful in Uganda and beyond by prioritizing relevant research questions in future GPC surveys.

The GPC comprises of a population of around 22,000 people residing within 25 adjacent villages (administrative units) and covering half of the sub-county of Kyamulibwa. Since April 2023, the GPC infrastructure evolved into one of the five (5) strategic platforms of the MRC/UVRI and LSHTM Uganda Research Unit. The other platforms include Clinical Research, Sequencing, Immunology, and the Central Diagnostic Laboratory Services.

The GPC platform supports the Unit's mission through two main functions 1) To collect longitudinal data on core markers of diseases and 2) To embed externally funded population-based studies. To achieve these functions, the GPC conducts two (2) main activities at each wave of data collection referred to as a `round'.

At each round, the GPC conducts a i) house-to-house Census (demographic surveillance), and ii) Medical survey where eligible participants are invited to attend a hub defined as a centralised location for each village. The GPC platform also includes a general health clinic at the Kyamulibwa field station. Since the launch of the GPC, 27 medical survey rounds have been undertaken and currently (in 2025) the 28th medical survey round is ongoing.