Prevalence and Social Risk Factors of Functional Limitations Among Slum-Dwelling Older Adults: Findings From the Nairobi Urban Health and Demographic Surveillance System.

: In this study, we investigate the patterns and the risk factors of functional limitations in a sample of 1323 slum-dwelling older adults in Kenya who participated in the Nairobi Urban Health and Demographic Surveillance Systems. : We conducted crude and adjusted logistic regression analyses to evaluate the associations. : The prevalence of activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental ADL (IADL) limitations were approximately 5% and 8%, respectively; some 4.

Mapping adolescent sexual and reproductive health research in sub-Saharan Africa: protocol for a scoping review.

Introduction: Previous studies have attempted to review the vast body of evidence on adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH), but none has focused on a complete mapping and synthesis of the body of inquiry and evidence on ASRH in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Such a comprehensive scoping is needed, however, to offer direction to policy, programming and future research. We aim to undertake a scoping review of studies on ASRH in SSA to capture the landscape of extant research and findings and identify gaps for future research.

Variations in disability and quality of life with age and sex between eight lower income and middle-income countries: data from the INDEPTH WHO-SAGE collaboration.

Background: Disability and quality of life are key outcomes for older people. Little is known about how these measures vary with age and gender across lower income and middle-income countries; such information is necessary to tailor health and social care policy to promote healthy ageing and minimise disability.

Methods: We analysed data from participants aged 50 years and over from health and demographic surveillance system sites of the International Network for the Demographic Evaluation of Populations and their Health Network in Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Vietnam, India, Indonesia and Bangladesh, using an abbreviated version of the WHO Study on global AGEing survey instrument.

Musculoskeletal health conditions among older populations in urban slums in sub-Saharan Africa.

Background: Debate on the burden of musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions in lower and middle income countries is intensifying; yet, little knowledge so far exists on patterns and impacts of such conditions among general or older adult populations in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The objectives of this study are to examine the prevalence, potential predictors, and sequelae of MSK among older adults residing in two low resource informal urban settlements or "slums" in Nairobi Kenya.

Methods: Data on older adults aged 60 years and over from two unrelated cross-sectional surveys on the older slum populations are used: a 2006/7 survey on the social, health, and overall well-being of older people (sample N = 831), and a 2016 survey on realities and impacts of long-term care and social protection for older adults (sample n = 1026).

Toward "Age-Friendly Slums"? Health Challenges of Older Slum Dwellers in Nairobi and the Applicability of the Age-Friendly City Approach.

A majority of urban residents in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and other developing regions live in informal settlements, or slums. Much of the discourse on slum health centres on younger generations, while an intensifying agenda on healthy ageing as yet lacks a systematic focus on slums. Similarly, the global age-friendly cities (AFC) movement does not, thus far, extend to slums.

Research Debate on 'Older Carers and Work' in Sub-Saharan Africa? Current Gaps and Future Frames.

Scientific debate on the interface of work and caregiving responsibilities among older adults is intensifying, yet it has had little resonance in African aging discourses thus far. In this commentary we explore the nature and possible reasons for the gap, and highlight a possible frame, and potential avenues for redressing it as part of an emergent research and policy endeavor on long-term care for older persons.

Families, Intergenerational Bonds, and Aging in Sub-Saharan Africa.

This Research Note proposes a rationale, and offers a set of initial parameters, for an explicit effort to forge a policy and scientifically relevant family gerontology for Africa. It builds on a critical appraisal of dominant policy discourses in the region and existing research efforts on families and aging, specifically in sub-Saharan Africa.

Sexual and reproductive health and rights of older men and women: addressing a policy blind spot.

Global debate on required policy responses to issues of older persons has intensified over the past 15 years, fuelled by a growing awareness of the rapid ageing of populations. Health has been a central focus, but scrutiny of global policies, human rights instruments and reports reveals that just as older people are excluded from sexual and reproductive health and rights agendas, so are issues of sexual and reproductive health and rights wholly marginal to current agendas focused on older people. A critical question is whether the policy lacuna reflects a dearth of research evidence or a faulty translation of existing knowledge.

Status report on hypertension in Africa--consultative review for the 6th Session of the African Union Conference of Ministers of Health on NCD's.

Hypertension has always been regarded as a disease of affluence but this has changed drastically in the last two decades with average blood pressures now higher in Africa than in Europe and USA and the prevalence increasing among poor sections of society. We have conducted a literature search on PubMed on a broad range of topics regarding hypertension in Africa, including data collection from related documents from World Health Organization and other relevant organizations that are available in this field. We have shared the initial results and drafts with international specialists in the context of hypertension in Africa and incorporated their feedback.

Linking Ageing to Development Agendas in Sub-Saharan Africa: Challenges and Approaches.

International calls and frameworks for policies on ageing in sub-Saharan African countries, encapsulated in the UN Madrid Plan of Action on Ageing (2002) and the African Union Policy Framework and Plan of Action on Ageing (2003), have resulted in little concrete policy action. The lack of progress calls for critical reflection on the status of policy debates and arguments on ageing in the sub-region. In a context of acute development challenges and resource constraints, the paper links the impasse in policy action to a fundamental lack of clarity about how rationales and approaches for policy on ageing relate to core national development agendas.

Contexts, motives and experiences of Nigerian overseas nurses: understanding links to globalization.

Aims: Current understanding of the perspectives and experience of overseas trained nurses working in the UK and how these relate to conditions of globalization, is limited. This article (i) presents evidence on the contexts, circumstances and perspectives of Nigerian trained nurses working in the UK and (ii) examines their relationships to globalization by building on prior analyses that use Bauman's concepts of 'global' and 'local' perspectives.

Methods: The evidence derives from an exploratory qualitative investigation in the UK and Nigeria among a small sample of Nigerian trained registered nurses working in the independent nursing home sector in England (n = 25) and registered nurses, nursing tutors and returnee migrants in Nigeria (n = 7).

Decline in material family support for older people in urban Ghana, Africa: understanding processes and causes of change.

Objectives: Material family support for older people in Ghana, as in other African countries, has declined in recent decades, exposing increasing numbers especially of urban elderly to destitution and poverty. The nature and causes of this decline remain poorly understood, in particular the relative role of growing material constraints, as proposed by political economy perspectives, or weakening traditional values, as suggested by modernization perspectives. This article develops an interpretively grounded understanding of the processes underpinning the decline specifically in Accra, Ghana's capital.