Migration and urbanization can play key roles in population health. The aim of the Migration and Health Follow-up Study (MHFUS) is to examine and address social science and public health concerns connected to chronic health conditions and their treatment, livelihood changes that accompany migration, and connections between the origin community and the migrants.

The study seeks to help inform global health policy by improving the understanding of how migration and urbanization impact population health, improving understanding of population redistribution, identifying circumstances where population mobility itself may comprise the treatment cascade, and building scientific capacity.

Field research for the project is being carried out in rural northeast South Africa through a new five-year observational study, combining data from more than twenty years of extant data for a population of now more than 100,000 in demographic surveillance with a new longitudinal cohort of migrants and stayers drawn from that population.

As of 2024 five waves of the MHFUS survey have been completed.  Several peer-reviewed papers have been published (see website page).  Work continues on analysis and publication.  A Cohort Profile of our study is published in the International Journal of Epidemiology (2024) https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyae081