Health Care for Older Adults in Uganda: Lessons for the Developing World

Abstract

Approximately two-thirds of the world's older adults live in developing nations. By 2050, as many as 80% of such older people will live in low- and middle-income countries. In sub-Saharan Africa alone, the number of individuals aged 60 and older is projected to reach 163 million. Despite this demographic wave, the majority of Africa has limited access to qualified geriatric health care.³ Although foreign aid and capacity-building efforts can help to close this gap over time, it is likely that failure to understand the unique context of Africa's older adults, many of whom are marginalized, will lead to inadequacies in service delivery and poor health outcomes.⁴ As the need for culturally competent care of older adults gains recognition in the developed world, research in geriatric care in developing countries should progress in tandem.⁴ By examining the multidimensional challenges that an older woman with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in rural Uganda faces, this article makes contextualized policy recommendations for older adults in Africa and provides lessons for the developing world.

Keywords: Uganda; developing world; geriatric care.