The main provision of long-term care (LTC) in South Africa is unpaid family care that ‘almost always’ entails the labour of female relatives (Lloyd-Sherlock, 2019a). Others include the State and dependent older persons themselves. Although there are no data to demonstrate the specific size of each of these, research suggests that there are indications that unpaid carers and older persons themselves are largely responsible for the long-term care of older persons in South Africa (Lloyd-Sherlock, 2019a).

References:

Lloyd-Sherlock, P. (2019a). Long-term Care for Older People in South Africa: The Enduring Legacies of Apartheid and HIV/AIDS. Journal of Social Policy, 48(1), 147–167. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047279418000326