Aging as a Global Public Health Challenge : Dimensions of Demographic Divergence in the Global South

Since 2002, ageing populations worldwide have received increasing attention by global policy-makers. However, resources committed by inter-governmental donors and US-based private foundations in support of ageing-related policies and interventions in non-OECD countries have remained minimal during this decade and, where mobilised, have rarely responded to actual country-level demographics and institutional capacities. We argue that this lag between issue recognition and effective resource mobilisation, while mirroring known dynamics in global agenda-setting, has also been caused by a depiction of ageing as a uniform trend across the Global South. We develop and apply a comprehensive analytical framework to assess the state of ageing dynamics at the country level and uncover substantial regional and sub-regional variation. In response, we suggest replacing complexity reduction in the interest of issue recognition with targeted support for a more nuanced research agenda and policy debate on country-specific ageing dynamics in order to inform and catalyse effective international assistance