NAIROBI, Kenya, Sept 4 – A study examining how shifting demographics are reshaping health and economic systems in Kenya has received a 3.2 billion($25 million) grant from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The Longitudinal Study of Health and Aging in Kenya (LOSHAK) is being conducted jointly by Aga Khan University (AKU) Medical College, East Africa, and the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research (ISR).
Although Africa remains the world’s youngest continent, the number of older adults is expanding at an unprecedented rate. By 2050, the population aged 60 and above is projected to nearly triple across the continent. In Kenya, the elderly population is expected to quadruple in the next three decades.
“Thanks in part to improved health services and access, life expectancy in Kenya is increasing. The irony is that these trends create new challenges for the very healthcare and economic systems that enabled them,” said Joshua Ehrlich, Research Professor at U-M and co-lead of the project.
LOSHAK will run for five years, with funding split between AKU and U-M. It will involve two large-scale surveys: a national ‘core’ survey of about 6,500 Kenyans aged 45 and above, and a second, more focused study of 2,300 older adults in Kenya’s Coast Region to investigate risks linked to memory loss, Alzheimer’s disease, and other cognitive disorders.
The surveys will be conducted in multiple local languages to capture the country’s diversity and align with global aging research initiatives modeled on the U.S. Health and Retirement Survey.
Dr. Anthony Ngugi, Chair of the Department of Population Health at AKU and project co-lead, warned that the demographic shifts will bring pressure to Kenya’s health and economic systems.
“These changes will create new demands for healthcare delivery, from elder care to chronic disease management and cancer treatment. Policymakers will need robust data to design solutions for populations that look very different from today,” he said.
The initiative will establish a long-term research cohort, enabling future studies on other dimensions of population aging. All findings will be made publicly available to allow comparisons with similar studies worldwide, providing valuable insights for researchers, governments, and development partners across Africa and beyond.
