It is unclear from a desk review of medical school and related curricula whether dementia is included in undergraduate or graduate training, residencies, etc. However, gerontology was removed by the South African Nursing Council (SANC) from its specialist training curriculum (Lloyd-Sherlock, 2019a), and despite being urged by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) to reconsider this decision (SAHRC, 2015), this topic has not been restored to nursing curricula.

The NGO sector provides dementia care training predominantly to carers, where facilities pay organisations to train care-staff to provide care for persons living with dementia and support families of persons living with dementia. It is unclear to what extent this training reaches beyond non-pharmacological approaches to caring for persons living with dementia.

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

SAHRC. (2015). Investigative Hearing Report: Investigating hearing into systemic complaints relating to the treatment of Older Persons. Available from: http://www.sahrc.org.za/construction-site/home/21/files/SAHRC Investigative hearing report.pdf