Join us for the November session of the Reimagining the Economics of Aging Seminar Series, a monthly virtual forum from the Wealth Equity Lab at The New School that brings together scholars and practitioners to discuss works in progress on aging, retirement, and late-life economic security.

The session will be led by Professor Elena Moore, Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Cape Town. Professor Moore will discuss how long-term care (LTC) can be reimagined in South Africa and neighboring countries such as Botswana and Namibia.

Long-term care in South and Southern Africa rests almost entirely on unpaid family support. Public investment in community services has been limited and has declined, leaving a system of “familialism by default” in which the state assumes households will provide care. Roughly 98% of LTC-related public spending goes toward pensions, so older South Africans, particularly women, often rely on and support multigenerational households, even as they need care themselves. With one in ten citizens now aged 60+, family care alone is increasingly inadequate. Drawing on recent work reviewing and costing community-based care models, Professor Moore will highlight low-cost, high-impact approaches to better support older adults and their caregivers. How can the region build a more coherent LTC system?

Suggested pre-reading: Professor Moore and colleagues have published an updated report, Funding Elder Care in South Africa: A focus on community care spending, which may be helpful to read in advance of the seminar.