<i>CPD Editorial</i>: Geriatric Medicine in South Africa - a Cinderella subspecialty?

Abstract

Population ageing is a worldwide phenomenon and follows a decline in birth and death rates. Longevity and a greater number of people living to an advanced age are a major achievement for humankind. However, a consequence of the demographic shift is an escalating demand for health care as a result of increases in chronic and age-specific diseases and disabilities. The transition is more rapid in developing countries, which also have fewer resources than the developed countries to meet the challenges of an ageing population. Geriatric Medicine (GM) is a relatively recent subspecialty but has been well-established in a small number of tertiary institutions in South Africa since the 1980s. The first chair of geriatrics was installed at the University of Cape Town but was frozen by the provincial government in 2000. Nonetheless, the Division of Geriatric Medicine at that institution remains the leading geriatrics focal point in the country. The University of KwaZulu-Natal has the only other chair, and only two or three other institutions, notably the University of Stellenbosch, have a geriatrics unit.