Mark A. Collinson – The Conversation

Agincourt study area, South Africa. Agincourt

September 21, 2026

Young South Africans move for work and opportunity. What happens to their health when they do?

Carren Ginsburg, University of the Witwatersrand; Chantel Pheiffer, UMass Boston; Mark A. Collinson, University of the Witwatersrand, and Michael White, Brown University

Moving can change the conditions that shape health, so health and social policy must plan for a mobile population.

The relationship between income and health underlines the need for strong government policies to break the cycle. Shutterstock

October 15, 2019

South African study shows how unhealthy ageing takes its toll on health and income

Carlos Riumallo Herl, Erasmus University Rotterdam; David Canning, Harvard University, and Mark A. Collinson, University of the Witwatersrand

It’s evident from research that while health influences economic well-being, the inverse is also true, economic well-being influences health.

Many South Africans migrate from rural areas to big cities like Johannesburg. Shutterstock

July 31, 2019

A unique picture of migration patterns in South Africa can help urban planning

Mark A. Collinson, University of the Witwatersrand and Carren Ginsburg, University of the Witwatersrand

Keeping track of migration and urbanisation is challenging, but it’s vital for population health that migration and urbanisation is well understood and planned for.

Flickr/Isabel Sommerfeld

February 13, 2018

Monitoring populations helps to put the right health services in place

Mark A. Collinson, University of the Witwatersrand and Kobus Herbst, University of KwaZulu-Natal

Health and demographic surveillance systems are important to understand people and the societies that they live in.

Migration patterns can have an impact on health and policies. Philemon Bulawayo/Reuters

September 28, 2016

Healthcare for migrants is a challenge. Plugging the knowledge‑gap helps

Carren Ginsburg, University of the Witwatersrand; Mark A. Collinson, University of the Witwatersrand, and Philippe Bocquier, Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain)

When people migrate they can end up worse off when it comes to getting access to health care. Analysing migration trends can help drive local public health policy towards the correct targets.

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