SAGE Advisory Group
WHO’s Evaluation, Measurement and Analysis unit was part of a consortium that secured support from the European Commission's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) to implement a harmonized SAGE-like study covering: health, disability, subjective well-being and health system utilization; social networks; and the built environment, in a sample of approximately 12,000 respondents.
The Collaborative Research on Ageing in Europe (COURAGE) studies were conducted in Finland, Poland, Spain in 2010, with a goal of developing a tool useful to measure health and health-related outcomes for an ageing population. It will provide valid, reliable and comparable measures of population ageing and adult health in Europe - and will provide the basis for cross-country comparisons between the higher income countries in COURAGE and lower income countries in SAGE. Data will be available in 2013.
Funding, financial and other support
SAGE and SAGE sub-studies are supported by the Division of Behavioral and Social Research at the National Institute on Aging, US National Institutes of Health (NIA BSR), through Interagency Agreements (OGHA 04034785; YA1323-08-CN-0020; Y1-AG-1005-01) with WHO, and Research Project Grants R01AG034479 and R21AG034263. NIA BSR has facilitated numerous forums for in-depth discussions about study content, design, methods, innovation, analysis, implementation and dissemination.
Dr Richard Suzman, Director of NIA BSR, has been instrumental in providing continuous intellectual and other technical support to SAGE. Dr. Suzman has also personally ensured that SAGE is now recognised as a key effort in the measurement of health and well-being in older adults globally - and has facilitated harmonization with the US HRS, ELSA, SHARE and other ageing studies.
The governments of China and South Africa contributed financial and/or in-kind support to the implementation of SAGE in their respective countries. Governments of all participating countries work with WHO on the implementation of SAGE.
WHO has provided salary offset for members of the SAGE team in Geneva, and in-kind support in the form of technical and logistics support, procurement of equipment/supplies, data analysis, and offsets for some travel costs.
Wave 1: Additional support was provided for Wave 1 in China by the Shanghai CDC, in South Africa by the National Department of Health, and in Mexico from the Ministry of Health. The University of Ghana Medical School provided financial and in-kind support, including use of office and computer facilities, transport and staffing time. USAID provided additional funding for a nested study on women's health to SAGE India Wave 1 - adding over 3000 women aged 18-49 to the sample, with additional questions on maternal and child health.
Wave 2: Additional support for Wave 2 in China was provided by the Shanghai CDC. The University of Ghana and administrative division of the Medical School provided financial and in-kind support.
The Bloomberg Philanthropies, in collaboration with the US CDC Foundation and the University of Wollongong, funded a nested sub-study on salt intake and tobacco exposure in SAGE Ghana and South Africa Wave 2.
The Australia Africa Universities Network provided funds to Ghana and South Africa for the purpose of developing research collaborations and fostering data analysis between the University of Ghana, University of Cape Town, and the University of Wollongong related to cardiovascular health in Africa.