A study by HAALSI researchers explores whether the connection between chronic illness and depression that is commonly found in high-income settings exists in sub-Saharan Africa as well.
Study points to unmet need for social support among older women in rural South Africa
Researchers affiliated with the HAALSI research project have published a new study that found that older women in South Africa have weaker social network connections and are more socially isolated than men and younger women. Higher levels of widowhood and fewer connections outside of the family network are thought to explain this age- and gender-based difference.
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.
Measuring frailty—a key predictor of mortality and morbidity in higher income countries—in the now aging South African population
A team of researchers affiliated with HAALSI, a project focused on the aging population in South Africa, has published a study in BMC Geriatrics that finds frailty to be associated with worse health and well being, and earlier death in an aging, rural South African population.
CVD risk management varies in South Africa by gender, socioeconomic & disability status
A study just out by a team of HAALSI researchers finds that in South Africa cardiovascular disease risk is not being managed as well for women, those of lower socioeconomic status, and for those with physical disabilities.
NIA renews Harvard Pop Center’s longitudinal study on health and aging in South Africa
We are pleased to announce that the National Institute of Aging (NIA) has renewed one of the HCPDS’s signature studies, Health and Aging in Africa: A Longitudinal Study of an INDEPTH Community in South Africa” (HAALSI). The study, a collaboration with the University of Witwatersrand (Wits) in South Africa, began in 2014 with baseline data collection in a community-based cohort of 5,059 women and men aged 40 and older in Agincourt,…
What is driving later-life cognitive function of a rural South African population that lived under Apartheid?
Harvard Bell Fellow Lindsay Kobayashi, PhD, is lead author on a paper published in Social Science & Medicine that is one of the few studies that takes a closer look at the life-course drivers (e.g., self-reported childhood health and father’s occupation) of cognitive aging in South Africa. Other authors include researchers associated with the Harvard Pop Center and the HAALSI study.
In South Africa, when HIV testing is not always possible, is self-reported status a viable, reliable alternative?
A team of researchers affiliated with the Harvard Pop Center and the Health and Aging in Africa: A Longitudinal Study of an INDEPTH Community in South Africa (HAALSI) has found that the self-reported HIV status of older adults was accurate enough that it could be considered as a routine first step to establish HIV status when testing is not possible. The study was published in JIAS (Journal of the International Aids…
How do functional abilities of aging population in South Africa compare to those in other LMICs?
Researchers affiliated with the Harvard Pop Center have authored a paper based on research from the Health and Aging in Africa: a Longitudinal Study of an INDEPTH Community in South Africa (HAALSI) study that finds that older South African men had 30% higher odds than women of being limited when it came to performing activities of daily living (ADLs), and that this cohort in South Africa (men and women) did not…
Harvard Pop Center is hiring a Research Associate (HAALSI)
Interested in working on research projects involving dementia, cognitive functioning and aging studies? Learn more!