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.

Method: 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.

Conclusion: 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.