Cohort Profile: The Kiang West Longitudinal Population Study (KWLPS)—a platform for integrated research and health care provision in rural Gambia

Why was the cohort set up?Research on malnutrition and malaria has been conducted in the Kiang West district of The Gambia (West Africa) since 1950, initially through Professor Sir Ian McGregor's annual anthropometric and health surveys of the rural subsistence farming community in this low-and middle-income country (LMIC) setting (described in more detail elsewhere 1 ).With the establishment of a permanent field station by the UK Medical Research Council (MRC Keneba) in 1974, research and health provision expanded into the wider community.MRC Keneba is located in the heart of the 750-km 2 district located in the Lower River Region, which until 2014 had limited road access (Figure 1).Research facilities in KW were initially set up to support nutrition studies, in particular for longitudinal studies of growth in four '