Family beliefs about care for older people in Central, East, Southern and West Africa and Latin America

Abstract

The United Nations Decade of Healthy Ageing (2020–30) states that reliance on family care alone is unsustainable. This scoping review synthesises knowledge on family beliefs about care for older people in Central, East, Southern and West Africa and Latin America. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines were followed, and 35 articles published from 2010 to 2020 were included. The review highlights the challenges arising from embedded beliefs in family obligations to care.

Editorial

“…The seventh article, by Kabelenga, draws on focus groups with community leaders in rural and urban Zambia to understand the formation and perpetuation of powerful norms of family care in later life. The articles close with Curreri, McCabe, Robertson, Aboderin, Pot and Keating (2023), who show that care is believed to be best provided within the family home, both through a sense that this is the right place to care and due to a lack of acceptable alternatives in these regions.…”