The relationship between lifecourse traumatic events and pain in an older rural South African population: A cross-sectional study.

Background: Pain in older adults is an increasing concern in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), with literature suggesting an association with past traumatic events (TEs) in high-income settings. We aim to investigate this relationship in a population-representative sample of older adults with high burden of TEs in a rural South African community.

Methods: The Health and Aging in Africa: A longitudinal Study of an INDEPTH Community in South Africa (HAALSI) study collected data pain intensity, using the Brief Pain Inventory, and TEs with a 16-item questionnaire, from 2411 participants aged 40-79 in 2014-15.

Leadership, cohesion, and stress in primary care facilities and retention in chronic care in rural northeast South Africa before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal study.

Background: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hypertension are major contributors to morbidity and mortality in South Africa. Effective management of these conditions is critical to population health, yet patient management and retention varies by facility for reasons that are not fully understood. We assessed whether measures of clinic leadership, cohesion, and stress were associated with retention for HIV and hypertension in a cohort of patients in northeast South Africa before and during the Coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

Estimating dementia prevalence using remote diagnoses and algorithmic modelling: a population-based study of a rural region in South Africa.

Background: Dementia is a leading cause of global death and disability. High-quality data describing dementia prevalence and burden remain scarce in sub-Saharan Africa. Health and Aging in Africa: A Longitudinal Study in South Africa (HAALSI) fills evidence gaps with longitudinal data on cognition, biomarkers, and everyday function in a population-based cohort of Black South Africans, aged 40 years and older, in a rural subdistrict.

Effect of a cash transfer intervention on memory decline and dementia probability in older adults in rural South Africa.

Evidence on cash transfers as a population-level intervention to support healthy cognitive aging in low-income settings is sparse. We assessed the effect of a cash transfer intervention on cognitive aging outcomes in older South African adults. We leveraged the overlap in the sampling frames of a Phase 3 randomized cash transfer trial [HIV Prevention Trial Network (HPTN) 068, 2011-2015] and an aging cohort [Health and Aging in Africa: A Longitudinal Study of an INDEPTH Community (HAALSI), 2014-2022] in rural Mpumalanga Province, South Africa.

Opening decision spaces: A case study on the opportunities and constraints in the public health sector of Mpumalanga Province, South Africa.

Background: Decentralised and evidence-informed health systems rely on managers and practitioners at all levels having sufficient 'decision space' to make timely locally informed and relevant decisions. Our objectives were to understand decision spaces in terms of constraints and enablers and outline opportunities through which to expand them in an understudied rural context in South Africa.

Methods: This study examined decision spaces within Mpumalanga Province, using data and insights generated through a participatory action research process with local communities and health system stakeholders since 2015, which was combined with published documents and research team participant observation to produce findings on three core domains at three levels of the health system.