Page 57 - SAMRC Annual Report 2023-24

PERFORMANCE INFORMATION

Rural Public Health and

Health Transition
Research Unit

Unit director:
Prof. Stephen Tollman

Prioritising responsive research
through impactful interventions

In partnership with host communities and local
institutions, the unit aimed to better understand
and respond to the dynamics of health, population
and social transitions in rural South and sub-Saharan
Africa, to mount a more effective public health,
public sector and social response and thereby
inform national, regional and global health and
development policy and practice.

Unit research continued to address four fundamental
questions during 2023/24: (1) Unpredictability
and pace of rapidly evolving health, population,
and social transitions, (2) Interacting social,
environmental, behavioural, and biological
determinants and consequences, highlighting
vulnerability and resilience at key stages along the
life course, (3) When, where and how to intervene
effectively, and (4) Implications for health, social and
developmental sector responses in order to achieve
a more equitable and socially and economically Field workers at ARK project.
productive society.

Studies across the life course included (i) an effective, Innovative health and social systems R&D involved
scalable approach to addressing depressive (i) "Know your numbers" pilot trial, capitalising
symptoms in adolescents (DoBAT: Digital delivery on older persons' monthly attendance in grant/
of Behavioural Activation to overcome depression pension queues to provide an identifiable, at-risk
and facilitate social and economic transitions) and population and novel venue for Blood Pressure (BP)
(ii) successful ageing among middle-aged and measurement and referral, and (ii) "Ntirhisano",
older rural-dwelling South Africans (HAALSI: Health training traditional healers in HIV testing and referral
and Ageing in Africa-Longitudinal Studies in an to local clinics. Strengthening service-community
INDEPTH community). Social determinants work partnerships included "VAPAR: Verbal autopsy with
included MHFUS: Migration and Health Follow-Up participatory action research" which successfully
Study involving comparative research on changing enhanced agency of CHWs, and "MADIVA:
health burden, risk profile and support needs of Multimorbidity in Africa: digital innovation,
labour migrants. visualisation, and application".

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