IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cdl/econwp/qt71q7v6f1.html

Development of the Longitudinal Study of Health and Ageing in Kenya (LOSHAK)

Author

Listed:
  • Nagarajan, Niranjani
  • Burns, Shane D
  • Riang’a, Roselyter M
  • Mwangi, Eunice Muthoni
  • Sayed, Shaheen
  • Gichu, Muthoni
  • Langa, Kenneth M
  • Miguel, Edward
  • Ngugi, Anthony K
  • Ehrlich, Joshua R

Abstract

In Kenya, the number of adults aged ≥60 is expected to nearly quadruple by 2050, making it one of the most rapidly aging countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Accordingly, we designed the Longitudinal Study of Health and Ageing in Kenya (LOSHAK) to generate novel data to address the health and economic consequences of this demographic transition. Specifically, LOSHAK will investigate the social, economic, environmental, biological, and policy processes that shape late-life health and economic well-being in Kenya. Modeled on the U.S. Health and Retirement Study (HRS), LOSHAK joins a network of harmonized studies on aging in >45 countries worldwide; however, LOSHAK will be only the 2nd such study in SSA. The current feasibility and pilot phase of LOSHAK will validate measures and data collection procedures in a purposive sample of Kenyan adults aged ≥45 years. We have linguistically and culturally translated instruments while aiming to maintain harmonization with both existing HRS network studies and the ongoing Kenya Life Panel Survey. The current phase of LOSHAK is nested within the Kaloleni/Rabai Community Health and Demographic Surveillance System on the coast of Kenya. LOSHAK will advance population aging research in low- and middle-income countries through the study of (a) biomarkers and physiological measures ; (b) the impacts of air pollution and climate vulnerability ; (c) Alzheimer's disease and related dementias, mental health, disability, caregiving, and psychosocial wellbeing ; and (d) economic security, including the impact of social welfare . LOSHAK will inform future public health and economic policy to address challenges related to rapid aging in Kenya and throughout SSA. Accordingly, this paper aims to introduce and provide a description of LOSHAK and its aims and objectives, as well as to inform the scientific community of current study activities being used to build toward the full population-representative study.

Suggested Citation

  • Nagarajan, Niranjani & Burns, Shane D & Riang’a, Roselyter M & Mwangi, Eunice Muthoni & Sayed, Shaheen & Gichu, Muthoni & Langa, Kenneth M & Miguel, Edward & Ngugi, Anthony K & Ehrlich, Joshua R, 2024. "Development of the Longitudinal Study of Health and Ageing in Kenya (LOSHAK)," Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt71q7v6f1, Department of Economics, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
    • Handle: RePEc:cdl:econwp:qt71q7v6f1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/71q7v6f1.pdf;origin=repeccitec
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Edward Miguel & Michael Kremer, 2004. "Worms: Identifying Impacts on Education and Health in the Presence of Treatment Externalities," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 72(1), pages 159-217, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Shane Burns & Philippa Clarke & HwaJung Choi, 2026. "Gender Differences in Episodic Memory Among Middle-Aged and Older Adults in Four Middle-Income Countries," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 45(3), pages 1-27, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. David M. Cutler & Adriana Lleras-Muney & Tom Vogl, 2008. "Socioeconomic Status and Health: Dimensions and Mechanisms," NBER Working Papers 14333, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Isabelle Chort & Olivier Dagnelie, 2022. "Worms or sugar? Mass deworming treatment doubles the probability to suffer from diabetes ten to fifteen years later," Working Papers hal-03887621, HAL.
    3. Yang Yang & Teng Huang & Tianjun Liu, 2024. "Do place‐based policies impact residents’ nutrient intake? Evidence from China," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 55(5), pages 871-894, September.
    4. Huber, Martin & Steinmayr, Andreas, 2017. "A Framework for Separating Individual Treatment Effects From Spillover, Interaction, and General Equilibrium Effects," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 21, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    5. Xuqian Ma & Michelle N. Layvant & Edward Miguel & Eric Ochieng & Ajay Pillarisetti & Michael W. Walker, 2025. "Impacts of Contemporaneous Air Pollution Exposure on Cognitive Performance in Kenya," NBER Working Papers 34557, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Michael W. Walker & Nick Shankar & Edward Miguel & Dennis Egger & Grady Killeen, 2025. "Can Cash Transfers Save Lives? Evidence from a Large-Scale Experiment in Kenya," NBER Working Papers 34152, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Garret Christensen & Edward Miguel, 2018. "Transparency, Reproducibility, and the Credibility of Economics Research," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 56(3), pages 920-980, September.
    8. John Parman, 2012. "Childhood Health and Sibling Outcomes: The Shared Burden of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic," Working Papers 121, Economics Department, William & Mary.
    9. Adriaan R. Soetevent, 2006. "Empirics of the Identification of Social Interactions; An Evaluation of the Approaches and Their Results," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(2), pages 193-228, April.
    10. S Anukriti & Catalina Herrera‐Almanza & Praveen K. Pathak & Mahesh Karra, 2020. "Curse of the Mummy‐ji: The Influence of Mothers‐in‐Law on Women in India†," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 102(5), pages 1328-1351, October.
    11. Reinikka, Ritva & Svensson, Jakob, 2011. "The power of information in public services: Evidence from education in Uganda," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(7-8), pages 956-966, August.
    12. Gustavo J. Bobonis & Paul J. Gertler & Marco Gonzalez-Navarro & Simeon Nichter, 2022. "Vulnerability and Clientelism," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(11), pages 3627-3659, November.
    13. Hazan, Moshe & Zoabi, Hosny, 2005. "Does Longevity Cause Growth?," CEPR Discussion Papers 4931, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    14. Jack, William & Lewis, Maureen, 2009. "Health investments and economic growth : macroeconomic evidence and microeconomic foundations," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4877, The World Bank.
    15. David K. Evans & Arkadipta Ghosh, 2008. "Prioritizing Educational Investments in Children in the Developing World," Working Papers WR-587, RAND Corporation.
    16. Guillermo Cruces & Dario Tortarolo & Gonzalo Vazquez-Bare, 2023. "Design of partial population experiments with an application to spillovers in tax compliance," IFS Working Papers W23/17, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    17. Blanco, M. & Dalton, P.S. & Vargas, J.F., 2013. "Does the Unemployement Benefit Institution Affect the Productivity of Workers? Evidence from a Field Experiment," Other publications TiSEM ba37e033-06ab-4fc3-b56e-9, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    18. David Cutler & Angus Deaton & Adriana Lleras-Muney, 2006. "The Determinants of Mortality," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(3), pages 97-120, Summer.
    19. Michael A. Clemens, 2017. "The Meaning Of Failed Replications: A Review And Proposal," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 326-342, February.
    20. Hammer, Jeffrey & Spears, Dean, 2013. "Village sanitation and children's human capital : evidence from a randomized experiment by the Maharashtra government," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6580, The World Bank.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cdl:econwp:qt71q7v6f1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Lisa Schiff (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ibbrkus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.