Shaping Long-Term Care in Emerging Asia: Policy and Country Experiences

Countries are facing increasing life expectancy and a shrinking family size and in effect, this may escalate demands for medical and supportive services. The role of families in providing informal care will remain important. However, the simultaneous decline in the supply of informal caregiving caused by changes in family structure and higher female labour-market participation necessitate the expansion of the public role in care provision. This book analyses the challenges of long-term care (LTC) policy development and implications from advanced LTC systems and a current trajectory in emerging economies in Asia.

The book approaches the subject through comparative analysis on what works and what does not to provide insight into public policy options for sustainable LTC provision and financing mechanisms. How the countries adopt different approaches to health and social systems towards LTC development could provide important insight and perspectives into policy options in the region.

This book aims at academics, policymakers and practitioners in health, social, and aged care services and could also be used as a teaching resource for undergraduate students in health and social sciences and postgraduate programs in public health, epidemiology, social demography, gerontology, and nursing. The book will be of interest to a wider audience not only on social and health consequences of population ageing but also health and social policy relating to older persons.

Vasoontara Sbirakos Yiengprugsawan is a social epidemiologist and has over 15 years’ experience in development and public health in academia and policy research with international organizations. She held senior research positions (University of New South Wales and Australian National University), a Fellowship with the World Health Organization Asia Pacific Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, and an Australian Endeavour Fellowship.

John Piggott is Director of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research (CEPAR) at the University of New South Wales, where he is Scientia Professor of Economics. He has published widely on issues in retirement and pension economics and finance in the leading international economics and actuarial academic journals.