The work the Longitudinal Study of Health and Ageing in Kenya (LOSHAK) does shows that “standard” approaches often aren’t measuring people’s health but rather their Western education. In a piece for Think Global Health, LOSHAK’s co-directors, Josh Ehrlich and Anthony Ngugi, urge researchers to consider language, culture when assessing cognition, including concepts of time and place.

“To ensure that data accurately represents local contexts, researchers should reimagine the data collection that informs national aging policies, working closely with communities to capture unique features of different cultures and languages.” Think Global Health, October 15, 2026.
Joshua R. Ehrlich, Survey Research Center
Anthony K. Ngugi, Aga Khan University in Nairobi