The Daasanach pastoralist population of northern Kenya: A model for healthy aging—specifically the avoidance of non-communicable disease and frailty

Small-scale subsistence populations like the pastoralist population of northern Kenya, the Daasanach, have remarkably low prevalence of age-related frailty and cardiometabolic disease, diseases strongly associated with aging and responsible for the vast majority of morbidity and mortality in the U.S. and other industrialized populations. This pilot  will investigate which aspects of lifestyle (physical activity, diet, etc.) promote healthy aging among the Daasanach. Two aspects of Daasanach life are of particular relevance to the study of aging. First, like many rural populations across the developing world, the Daasanach are moving from active traditional lifestyles to more sedentary, market-integrated village life. Second, the Daasanach have a largely animal- based diet (blood, milk, and meat). The Daasanach are at the epicenter of the epidemiological transition. Understanding lifestyle changes affecting their life course will help shape strategies to promote healthy aging and other positive health outcomes for them and for other populations in transition and post-transition. This pilot takes advantage of a societal transition in a pastoral environment to capture biosocial processes over the life course that lead to differential aging.

Academic Year
2020-2021
Primary Funding Agency
NIA/CPHA Pilot
Duke Principal Investigator(s)