Dedicated services for persons living with dementia are provided by the NGO-sector and typically comprise of psycho-educational support, training of caregivers, and linking to support groups for persons living with dementia and their families. NGOs work in collaboration with multiple organisations and partners to provide services to families.

Government mental health services include support from mental health practitioners (e.g., psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses) to those who enter service systems, with further referral to the NGO-sector (e.g., for family and caregiver support) or private sector (counselling, specialist medical intervention) for care when public sector resources are unable to meet service needs. There are no known support services dedicated specifically to persons living with dementia after diagnosis and their families from government outside of generic provisions for older persons in general, and that which is provided through overburdened mental health care facilities. A memory-clinic study in Cape Town revealed that 79% of patients’ care were located within the family (Kalula et al., 2010), with unpaid female carers being the most typical care-providers in South Africa (Lloyd-Sherlock, 2019b).

References:

Kalula, S. Z., Ferreira, M., Thomas, K. G. F., De Villiers, L., Joska, J. A., & Geffen, L. N. (2010). Profile and management of patients at a memory clinic. South African Medical Journal, 100(7), 449. https://doi.org/10.7196/SAMJ.3384

Lloyd-Sherlock, P. (2019b). 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