HAALSI Wave 3 Survey

The Health and Aging in Africa: A Longitudinal Study of an INDEPTH Community in South Africa (HAALSI) study is a population-based survey implemented by the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies and the MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt) of the University of the Witwatersrand. HAALSI aims to examine and characterize a population of older men and women in rural South Africa with respect to health, physical and cognitive function, aging, and well-being, in harmonization with other Health and Retirement Studies. The second wave of data collection was conducted in October 2018-November 2019 among 4,176 members of the Wave 1 HAALSI cohort. The third wave of data collection was conducted in July 2021-April 2022 among 3,707 members of the Wave 1 HAALSI cohort. The Wave 1 participants included 5,059 men and women aged 40 years or older, who were were randomly sampled from within the existing framework of the Agincourt health and socio-demographic surveillance system (AHDSS), in rural Mpumalanga province, South Africa. The survey was administered by local field workers in Shangaan at the participants' homes using computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI). Extensive survey data was collected on cognitive and physical functioning, social networks, cardiometabolic disease and risk factors, HIV and HIV risk, and economic well-being. The survey also included anthropometric measures and point-of-care blood tests for hemoglobin and glucose, as well as collection of dried bloodspots (DBS). Future data releases will share results from DBS that were collected during the survey and tested for HIV, HIV viral load, HbA1c and CRP. (2023-04-26)