Abstract
Background:Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is undergoing a rapid demographic change, with more people reaching old age. There is, however, little information available about healthcare policies with regards to this age group in this region of the world.Objectives:This scoping review aims to map the healthcare policies in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) after the 2002 United Nations Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing (MIPAA) with an eye towards to identifying strategies for promoting older people’s access to health care, integration of older people’s diseases into primary health care and the level of training and research in geriatrics and gerontology in SSA.Methods:This review adopted Arskey and O’Malley’s five-step methodology for scoping review and used the guide by Levac et al to operationalize the steps. Potentially relevant literature in English published between January 2003 and December 2017 was identified through PubMed, Google Scholar, EBSCOhost, and manual search. Articles that related to ageing in SSA in line with the aims of the review were included. The identified articles were independently assessed by the authors and the decision on the articles to be included was reached by a consensus.Findings:A total of 363 articles were identified through the databases and manual search of which only 4.7% (17/363) of the articles were included in the review. The findings showed that many SSA countries have formulated policies on healthy ageing and a few have policies to promote access to health care for the older people. The integration of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) management into primary health care (PHC) is encouraging but mental health appears to have been completely neglected. Training and research in gerontology and geriatrics are hardly supported by governments in SSA.Conclusions:Significant progress has been made by the SSA countries in policy formulation with regards to older persons but not much has been achieved with the implementation of the policies.
Highlights
An increase in the ageing population is a reality in many sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries
Reviewing the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing (MIPAA) and AU-Plan, we identified one broad research question as follows: What are the national policies on ageing in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) post-2002 MIPAA and 2003 AU-Plan agreements? To operationalize the broad research question, the following three research questions, which formed the subtheme of this review, were identified: (1) What are the strategies for the promotion of older people’s access to health care?
An additional 27 reports were identified through manual search
Summary
An increase in the ageing population is a reality in many sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. SubSaharan Africa, consisting of 48 of the 54 African countries and excluding northern African countries, was home to an estimated 46 million people aged 60 years and above in 2015 [1, 2] This number is projected to increase more than twofold by 2050, indicating that the region will have the fastest growth rate of older people compared to any other region of the world within this period [2, 3]. Objectives: This scoping review aims to map the healthcare policies in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) after the 2002 United Nations Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing (MIPAA) with an eye towards to identifying strategies for promoting older people’s access to health care, integration of older people’s diseases into primary health care and the level of training and research in geriatrics and gerontology in SSA. Conclusions: Significant progress has been made by the SSA countries in policy formulation with regards to older persons but not much has been achieved with the implementation of the policies
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
