South Africa - Migrant Health Follow-Up Study Wave 01 (MHFUS)
Reference ID | MHFUS.W1.2023 |
Year | 2018 - 2019 |
Country | South Africa |
Producer(s) | Prof. Mark Collinson - Medical Research Council/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwat |
Metadata | Documentation in PDF |
Created on
Feb 27, 2024
Last modified
Feb 27, 2024
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22413
Overview
Identification
MHFUS.W1.2023 |
Version
Version 1.0Overview
Overview of the Migrant Health Follow-Up Study (MHFUS)The Migrant Health Follow-up Study (MHFUS) is an observational cohort study that seeks to better understand relationships between migration, urbanisation, and health in a transition setting. The MHFUS cohort includes migrants who leave the Agincourt study area in rural Mpumalanga, usually to access employment and young adult non-movers. The project also draws on the long-standing repository of personal and household data collected through by the Agincourt Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS). The Agincourt HDSS has monitored the health and demographic dynamics of a population of approximately 117,000 individuals of the Bushbuckridge Municipality since 1992.
RESEARCH GOALS:
The study tracks individuals involved in temporary and circular migration and those who choose to stay in their place of origin. Its aim is to uncover how mobile individuals handle chronic diseases, access long-term care, and manage health issues (Ginsburg et al. 2021). One unique aspect is the ability to link current survey data with long-standing demographic surveillance information, providing deeper insights into the interconnected demographic and health dynamics. This approach aims to better understand the factors influencing key health outcomes. By collecting comprehensive healthcare access and treatment data, the project investigates if migration creates obstacles to care. Additionally, the research contributes to understanding migration and urbanisation by examining how migrants adapt to new environments and the impact of out-migration on rural communities.
Coverage
The project collects longitudinal data from a cohort of individuals within the Agincourt HDSS and other places such as Gauteng, where those who have migrated settle (Ginsburg et al. 2021). Geographically, the Agincourt HDSS covers an area of approximately 420 square kilometres and is located in the Bushbuckridge District, Mpumalanga in the rural northeast of South Africa close to the Mozambique border (Kahn et al. 2012).Migrant individuals in the cohort are geographically spread across several provinces in South Africa. Most of the migrants settle within Mpumalanga and in Gauteng and then Limpopo. Fewer participants live in other provinces within South Africa. Very few participants live outside the country.
The data release comprises information collected from Wave 1 of the MHFUS, representing the baseline data of the cohort study, where 3092 of the 3800 individuals sampled were interviewed between February 2018 and January 2019.
The recruitment process of study participants took place in 2017 through Initial Household Visits (IHV). This involved visiting the cohort participant’s origin households within the Agincourt HDSS to locate participants residing within the HDSS household or to retrieve contact and address information from individuals living outside the Agincourt HDSS (migrants). During these visits, the fieldwork team sought consent from participants for future contact during the data collection phase.
In the IHV round, we successfully tracked 91.9% of individuals (N=3491) of the simple random sample frame (N=3800) and eventually enrolled and interviewed 81.3% (N=3092) during Wave 1. Approximately 708 individuals did not complete the baseline interview due to reasons such as refusals, physical incapacitation, and demographic factors like age. A few individuals were excluded due to being sampled twice.
Fieldwork operations were carried out by two distinct teams. Those residing in Gauteng, South Africa's economic hub in which the cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria (Tshwane) are located, were interviewed by a fieldwork team situated in Johannesburg. Participants living in or near the Agincourt HDSS area were interviewed by a team based in Agincourt.
Primary data collection for these 3092 individuals during Wave 1 occurred through face-to-face interviews. However, for 20.5% of participants, data were collected via telephone due to challenges in meeting them in person after multiple attempts or because of their distant location from our fieldwork teams in the Agincourt and Johannesburg offices.
Producers and Sponsors
Name | Affiliation |
---|---|
Prof. Mark Collinson | Medical Research Council/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. Department of Science and Innovation/Medical Research Council, South African Population Research Infrastructure Network, South Africa |
Prof. Michael J White | Population Studies and Training Center, Department of Sociology, Brown University. Medical Research Council/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. |
Prof. Stephen Tollman | Medical Research Council/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. International Network for the Demographic Evaluation of Populations and Their Health Network, Accra, Ghana |
Dr. Carren Ginsburg | Medical Research Council/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. |
Dr. Francesc Xavier Gomez-Olive | Medical Research Council/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. |
Name | Affiliation | Role |
---|---|---|
Dr Chantel Pheiffer | University of Massachusetts Boston, Manning College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Department of Urban Public Health. Population Studies and Training Center, Brown University. | Researcher |
Hong Xia | Population Studies and Training Center, Brown University. | Data Management and Analysis |
Daniel Ohene-Kwofie | Medical Research Council/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa | Deputy Head of Data and Analytics |
Nyiko Mathumbu | Medical Research Council/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa | Data Administrator |
Sadson Harawa | Medical Research Council/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa | Project Manager |