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Is there a secret to enabling an aging population working in the service sector to stay in the workforce longer?

Older man of color working in a grocery store

Recent Harvard Sloan Fellow on Aging & Work Leah Abrams, along with HCPDS faculty member Daniel Schneider, and their colleague Kristen Harknett, have published an article in The Gerontologist that reports that although scheduling conditions were found to be more stable for workers ages 50–80 than they were for younger workers, more than 80% of this older cohort experienced at least one type of routine schedule instability that was associated with…

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Study of aging population in South Africa finds that HIV viral suppression through ART is leveling the field of healthy longevity

HAALSI men and women

Findings by HAALSI researchers published in The Lancet Healthy Longevity, a special issue of conference abstracts, point to similar levels of increased lifespan and “healthspan” among those HIV-positive individuals who achieved viral suppression through ART as observed among HIV-negative individuals.

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Lisa Berkman on the “rectangularization” of the demographic pyramid in The Harvard Gazette

Lisa Berkman sitting in Harvard Yard with colorful chairs

With more people living longer and healthier lives, along with a simultaneous decline in fertility rates, societies are facing a challenge to adapt to this “rectangularization” of the demographic pyramid. In this piece on the increase in life expectancy and “health span” in The Harvard Gazette, Harvard Pop Center Director Lisa Berkman explains how this trend could improve our work force, and how it may be contributing to our national…

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Older adults in rural South Africa who care for their grandchildren may also be safeguarding their cognitive function

Two older women walk on a dirt road in rural South Africa

Three researchers (Harvard Pop Center Research Scientist Elyse Jennings, Research Associate Director Meagan Farrell, and former Bell Fellow Lindsay Kobayashi) affiliated with one of the flagship projects at the Harvard Pop Center — Health and Aging in Africa: A Longitudinal Study of an INDEPTH Community in South Africa (HAALSI) — have published their findings in the Journal of Aging and Health.

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Does cognitive function in older population living in South Africa differ based on HIV status?

Older men and women in South Africa part of the HAALSI study

A team of researchers affiliated with the HAALSI study have published their findings in Nature indicating that cognitive function scores varied depending on whether participants were being assessed using conventional measurement instruments versus one designed for low-literacy settings.

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A first look at the emergence of chronic multimorbidity, including HIV, among aging population in South Africa

Older man in South Africa sitting in a field

Partly due to the advancement of antiretroviral therapy (ART), South Africa is now among those countries whose population is living longer. Along with this blessing often goes the complex burden of managing multimorbidities such as cardiometabolic conditions, mental disorders, HIV and/or anaemia. A study by researchers affiliated with Health and Aging in Africa: A Longitudinal Study of an INDEPTH Community in South Africa (HAALSI) is one of the first to…

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HIV treatment programs linked to better cardiometabolic health indicators in South African patients

A doctor drawing blood from a woman

Researchers in the The Health and Aging in Africa: a longitudinal study of an INDEPTH Community in South Africa (HAALSI) project explored whether those people living with HIV receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) might have better chronic disease (e.g. hypertension, diabetes) control and numbers resulting from the “cascade” of care. The results are published in JIAS.

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New findings on aging in a newer population in South Africa

Older woman in South Africa

Three studies by researchers affiliated with Longitudinal Study of an INDEPTH Community in South Africa (HAALSI) have been published this month shedding light on the status of cognitive function, the level of daily living limitations and unmet care needs, and the impact of multiple illnesses on the likelihood of progressing along the recommended “continuum of care” among those aging in South Africa. Read the abstracts and learn more…

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A first look at cardiovascular disease among an older (and newer) population

Populations in middle-income countries, in many cases, are aging at a faster rate than high-income countries, and these countries typically lack the resources that help to meet the health challenges that coincide with living longer. A new study by a team of HAALSI researchers, including Harvard Pop Center Director Lisa Berkman and faculty member Stephen Tollman, characterizes the CVD profile for older subset of individuals within the aging population, and…

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Up-to-date details on aging South African population experiencing dramatic demographic shift

A cohort of adults aged 40 and over living in rural South Africa is the focus of Health and Aging in Africa: A Longitudinal Study of an INDEPTH Community in South Africa (HAALSI). A cohort profile published in the International Journal of Epidemiology shares details of the study which is aimed at shedding light on the socioeconomic and health challenges faced by an aging LMIC population.