our research

A world-class quality research on ageing

The fact remains Africa and Uganda in particular have not invested much in investigative research on ageing and this should be one of the priorities for Governments planning and budgeting. In this therefore, ARCAD will:

Quality Research on Aging

Play a proactive role in facilitating the formulation of research directions, bringing together teams of researchers across disciplines and geographical regions, fostering documentation, publication and communication within and between stakeholders and researchers, building partnerships across sectors, and ensuring that research knowledge is used to advance the quality of life of Ugandans. Take part in capacity building activities for new researchers in Uganda and elsewhere in Africa since there are funding gaps in the field of ageing. Be the first resource centre focused on a data base for age related research information in Uganda and Africa.

This will foster the centre’s ability to respond on high priority requests for information in a timely manner, as well as allowing the centre to draw attention to the experts who promote interventions targeting older persons.

Three thematic priority areas of research;

Chronic Care & Aging

Rising life expectancy and changing lifestyles are rapidly increasing the global burden of chronic diseases and conditions, bringing low- and middle-income countries on par with high-income countries. However, health systems in low- and middle-income countries are rarely adapted to long-term care, its costs often prohibitive for patients and families, resulting in communities struggling with the chronic health needs of its members. Under this theme we envisage gaining an understanding of these challenges, and helping to create new approaches to long-term care, focusing on (among others), cardiovascular disease and risk factors (e.g. hypertension), metabolic diseases (e.g. diabetes) and HIV.

Dementia Gerontechnology

In verge of increase life expectancy that is grooming across the global, technology is increasing seen as one innovation to address the challenges of older persons in later years. In prior years, researchers and practitioners considered technology that assisted older adults to be mainly assistive technology, perhaps durable medical equipment. But the Internet has changed this. Technology that supports activity, socialization, independence, navigation, etc. has changed the way we understand the world and ways we think about facilitating good outcomes of all types for older adults.

Further still, technology can include assistive technology but the umbrella extends to all technology including handheld devices, “smart” devices, aps, and the ways that technology is used – e.g. texting, video calling, monitoring, etc. although, technology advancement is occurring slowly in LMICs, ARCAD seeks to offer a platforms for research to investigate possible interaction of technology and older persons, with sole aim of informing policy and practice in LMICs

Urbanization & Ageing

Migration from rural to urban areas is the largest movement of humans globally. Urbanization comes with many changes that can affect health and well-being: better access to care and (often) improved livelihoods, but also sedentary lifestyles, crowding, disruption of community bonds, violence and psycho-social stress. Urbanization may have major health impacts—in particular on older persons in later years. Under this theme, we aim to gain insights into the effects of urbanization on health and the multitude of health problems that come together in rapidly urbanizing areas. We also envisage finding and evaluating solutions to these challenges that are multifaceted and multilevel, with behavioral, health system and urban planning components.

Emerging interests

Play a proactive role in facilitating the formulation of research directions, bringing together teams of researchers across disciplines and geographical regions, fostering documentation, publication and communication within and between stakeholders and researchers, building partnerships across sectors, and ensuring that research knowledge is used to advance the quality of life of Ugandans.