Building Long-Term Care Policies in Latin America: New Programs in Chile.
BACKGROUND
Little is known about long-term care policies in developing regions. Latin America is one of those regions. In less than 20 years, it will surpass Europe's elderly population. At that point, Chile will be the country with the largest share of elderly population in the region. For that reason, long-term care pilot programs have been implemented in recent years.


OBJECTIVE
This article describes the long-term care policy in Chile, analyzed according to the international experience.


METHODS
National directors of these programs were asked to complete questionnaires with a description of each, and the results of the past year. This information was compared with interviews to experts and official information available online.


RESULTS
Programs follow the international trends, although they are underfinanced and lack the necessary mechanisms to control service quality.


CONCLUSIONS
It is suggested that budgets should be increased, and there should be higher requirements for caregiver training. Also, mechanisms for quality control should be established, and policies should be evaluated for formal direct hiring through a cash-for-care system.
Dpto. Economía, Métodos Cuanqtitativos e Historia Económica, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Sevilla, Spain. Electronic address: mmatlop@upo.es.
Mauricio
M
Matus-Lopez
Departamento de Salud Pública, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
Camilo
C
Cid Pedraza
D000069537:Adult Day Care Centers / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000368:Aged; D002677:Chile / Q000453:epidemiology; D005380:Financing, Government; D006291:Health Policy; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D008134:Long-Term Care / Q000191:economics; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011157:Population Dynamics; D000078329:Workforce
Chile; Latin America; Long-term care policies; day centers; home-based care; nursing homes