The African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) has extensive experience managing longitudinal research platforms, particularly in urban health and demographic surveillance. Their work provides valuable lessons for implementation researchers in the field of CCH, where long-term data collection is essential yet fraught with challenges.

One of the major challenges APHRC identifies is research fatigue – a critical issue for longitudinal CCH studies. When participants are repeatedly surveyed over many years, engagement declines, leading to higher drop-out rates and reduced data reliability.

These insights are crucial for CCH researchers, who must design engagement strategies that reduce participant burden while maintaining high-quality longitudinal data collection. APHRC’s work suggests that standardized protocols, digital tools and training programmes for field researchers can help maintain continuity across decades-long studies.