Excerpt

Economic security, health and disability, and living conditions in old age are policy concerns throughout the world, but the nature of the problem differs considerably from continent to continent and between and within countries. In sub-Saharan Africa older people make up a relatively small fraction of the total population, and traditionally their main source of support has been the household and family, supplemented in many cases by other informal mechanisms, such as kinship networks and mutual aid societies. Although very little careful empirical research has been undertaken on long-term trends in the welfare of older people, there are a number of reasons to believe that traditional caring and social support mechanisms in sub-Saharan Africa are under increasing strain.

Contents

• The National Academies
• Panel on Policy Research and Data Needs to Meet the Challenge of Aging in Africa
• Committee on Population
• Acknowledgments
• Executive Summary
  • KEY THEMES
  • KEY AREAS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
  • RECOMMENDATIONS
• Part I. Report
  • 1. Aging in Sub-Saharan Africa: Recommendations for Furthering Research
    • WORKSHOP ON AGING IN AFRICA
    • KEY THEMES
    • KEY AREAS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
    • RECOMMENDATIONS
    • References
• Part II. Papers
  • 2. Aging in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Changing Demography of the Region
    Victoria A. Velkoff and Paul R. Kowal.
    • INTRODUCTION
    • DEMOGRAPHIC DIMENSIONS
    • COMPARISON OF U.S. CENSUS BUREAU AND UN POPULATION DIVISION ESTIMATES AND PROJECTIONS
    • CONCLUSION
    • Explanation of Acronyms/Abbreviations
    • REFERENCES
  • 3. Demographic Impacts of the HIV Epidemic and Consequences of Population-Wide Treatment of HIV for the Elderly: Results from Microsimulation
    Samuel J. Clark.
    • INTRODUCTION
    • QUESTIONS
    • METHODS
    • FINDINGS
    • CONCLUSION
    • REFERENCES
  • 4. The HIV/AIDS Epidemic, Kin Relations, Living Arrangements, and the African Elderly in South Africa
    M. Giovanna Merli and Alberto Palloni.
    • INTRODUCTION
    • PREVIOUS RESEARCH ON THE IMPACT OF EPIDEMICS ON FAMILIES AND HOUSEHOLDS
    • THE IDENTIFICATION PROBLEM
    • DATA ON LIVING ARRANGEMENTS
    • A PROFILE OF SOUTH AFRICA’S PROVINCES
    • THE DEMOGRAPHIC IMPACT OF HIV/AIDS: A SIMPLE MACROMODEL BASED ON BACKWARD AND FORWARD PROJECTIONS
    • RESULTS FROM THE MODEL
    • ANALYSIS OF CENSUS DATA
    • Patterns of Living Arrangements of the African Elderly
    • CONCLUSION
    • APPENDIX TO CHAPTER 4
    • REFERENCES
  • 5. Older Adults and the Health Transition in Agincourt, Rural South Africa: New Understanding, Growing Complexity
    Kathleen Kahn, Stephen Tollman, Margaret Thorogood, Myles Connor, Michel Garenne, Mark Collinson, and Gillian Hundt.
    • INTRODUCTION
    • THE THEORY OF EPIDEMIOLOGICAL TRANSITION
    • OLDER ADULTS AND THE HEALTH TRANSITION IN AGINCOURT: A CASE STUDY
    • IMPLICATIONS OF CHANGING ADULT HEALTH FOR PROVISION OF HEALTH CARE
    • CONCLUSION
    • REFERENCES
  • 6. The Situation of Older People in Poor Urban Settings: The Case of Nairobi, Kenya
    Alex C. Ezeh, Gloria Chepngeno, Abdhalah Ziraba Kasiira, and Zewdu Woubalem.
    • INTRODUCTION
    • STUDY RESULTS
    • CONCLUSION
    • ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
    • REFERENCES
  • 7. Labor Force Withdrawal of the Elderly in South Africa
    Murray Lam, Gloria Leibbrandt, and Vimal Ranchhod.
    • INTRODUCTION
    • SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC BACKGROUND
    • DATA
    • AGE PROFILES OF LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION
    • COMPONENTS OF LABOR FORCE ACTIVITY
    • DETERMINANTS OF THE ELDERLY LABOR SUPPLY
    • PROBIT REGRESSIONS
    • CONCLUSIONS
    • REFERENCES
  • 8. HIV/AIDS and Older People in South Africa
    Victoria Hosegood and Ian M. Timaeus.
    • INTRODUCTION
    • OLDER PEOPLE IN SOUTH AFRICA
    • DIRECT AND INDIRECT CONSEQUENCES OF HIV/AIDS FOR OLDER PEOPLE IN SOUTH AFRICA
    • OLDER PEOPLE’S LIVING ARRANGEMENTS AND MORTALITY IN RURAL KWAZULU-NATAL
    • DISCUSSION
    • REFERENCES
  • 9. Interactions Between Socioeconomic Status and Living Arrangements in Predicting Gender-Specific Health Status Among the Elderly in Cameroon
    Barthélémy Kuate-Defo.
    • INTRODUCTION
    • DATA AND METHODS OF ANALYSIS
    • RESULTS
    • SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION
    • ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
    • REFERENCES
  • 10. Survey Measures of Health: How Well Do Self-Reported and Observed Indicators Measure Health and Predict Mortality?
    Randall Kuhn, Omar Rahman, and Jane Menken.
    • INTRODUCTION
    • SIMPLE-TO-OBSERVE HEALTH INDICATORS
    • DATA AND METHODS
    • RESULTS
    • ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
    • REFERENCES
• Appendixes
  • Appendix A Workshop Agenda
  • Appendix B About the Contributors

This study was supported by Contract No. N01-OD-4-2139, TO#119 between the National Academy of Sciences and the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Aging. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for the project.

Suggested citation:

National Research Council. (2006). Aging in Sub-Saharan Africa: Recommendations for Furthering Research. Panel on Policy Research and Data Needs to Meet the Challenge of Aging in Africa. Barney Cohen and Jane Menken, Eds. Committee on Population, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.