BMJ 1994;308:859 (26 March)

Letters

Capture-recapture as a tool for programme evaluation

Editor,--The capture-recapture technique described by Ronald LaPorte1 may be particularly useful in studying marginalised or inaccessible groups to assess the size and characteristics of the target population and the proportion in contact with services. For example, Fisher et al used a capture-recapture analysis of individual patterns of contact with homeless agencies in north east West-minster to estimate the total number of homeless people.2 They also used the data to determine use of services and concluded that, during the study, almost two thirds of the homeless people in the area did not contact the statutory or voluntary agencies involved in the study.

We recently used capture-recapture analysis to estimate the numbers of sex workers meeting clients at bars in Mutare, Zimbabwe, and to assess their levels of contact with the Mutare HIV Prevention Programme (D Wilson et al, VIIIth International Conference on AIDS and STDs, Amsterdam, 1993). This programme was founded . . . [Full text of this article]


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