ABSTRACT
Southern Africans age in a region characterised by vulnerability to poverty, inadequacies in care, and the inappropriateness and exclusion of existing health services to older persons. They also age in a context of high unemployment and out-migration of younger adults, variances in the welfare regimes within the region, high care needs (particularly due to HIV and rapidly growing incidences of non-communicable diseases), and often inadequate state and family responses to care. While attention has been paid to social policy for older persons in Southern Africa – specifically to cash transfers as a poverty alleviation mechanism – analysis highlights implementation challenges. Against this backdrop, South Africa is presented as a case in point: a country that in its efforts to create opportunities for and address the challenges facing its older population developed an older persons’ policy as well as legislation based on the priorities of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing (MIPAA). To evaluate how South Africa has implemented the MIPAA over the past two decades and reflect on the lessons learned, this chapter draws on the Implementation Evaluation of the Older Persons Act 13 of 2006 conducted by the South African National Department of Social Development for recommendations.
