Articles

Rural and Remote Long-Term Care in Chile: Geography, Access and Service Inequality
Chile’s geography makes equitable long-term care a territorial challenge as well as a question of national policy. Rural communities, remote settlements and geographically isolated areas can face thinner service networks, longer travel, workforce constraints and heavier reliance on families. This article examines how Chile Cuida, primary care, municipal coordination, mobile and digital support, workforce planning and stronger territorial governance can improve access without assuming that urban service models can simply be replicated everywhere. Read more...
Person-Centered Care in Chile: Choice, Autonomy and Supported Decision-Making
Person-centered care in Chile increasingly sits within a rights-based framework that emphasizes autonomy, independent living, participation and support for decision-making. Law No. 21.805 strengthens this direction through Chile Cuida, while disability and mental-health legislation provide additional protections around choice, consent and supported participation. This article examines how those principles translate into assessment, care planning, risk, family involvement, workforce practice and governance across long-term care and community support. Read more...
Disability Support in Chile: Rights, Independence and Community Inclusion
Disability support in Chile sits at the intersection of rights, accessibility, health, social protection and the emerging national care system. Law No. 20.422 establishes principles of independent living and social inclusion, while Chile Cuida is creating a stronger framework for people whose disability also involves functional dependency. This article examines how those systems connect, why disability and dependency must remain distinct, and what person-centered community support requires in practice. Read more...
Women and the Care Economy in Chile: Gender, Unpaid Work and Long-Term Care Reform
Chile’s long-term care reforms are also gender reforms because unpaid care remains distributed unequally between women and men, shaping employment, income, health, pensions and economic autonomy. As Chile Cuida develops under a legal framework of social and gender co-responsibility, the policy challenge is not simply to recognize women’s contribution but to redistribute care more fairly. This article examines the care economy, formal services, workforce, social protection and the governance needed to turn that principle into measurable change. Read more...
Supporting Unpaid Caregivers in Chile: Recognition, Respite and Social Protection
Chile is moving beyond simply acknowledging unpaid caregiving toward building practical rights, respite, mental-health support, training and routes back into economic participation. The challenge is to ensure that recognition through Chile Cuida and the caregiver credential translates into support that genuinely reduces care burden. This article examines how respite, community services, social protection, workforce interfaces, territorial access and better evidence can make unpaid caregiving more sustainable without transferring formal care responsibilities back onto families. Read more...
Family Caregiving in Chile: The Hidden Infrastructure of Long-Term Care
Family caregiving remains one of the foundations of long-term care in Chile, providing extensive practical, emotional and supervisory support that formal services alone do not replace. As Chile Cuida establishes care as a right and gives unpaid caregivers greater legal recognition, the policy challenge is shifting from treating families as an assumed source of capacity toward building a system that recognizes, supports and shares care more fairly. Read more...
Palliative and End-of-Life Care in Chile: Extending Support Across Health and Community Settings
Chile’s Universal Palliative Care Law widened palliative care beyond its historic association with cancer, establishing rights for people with terminal or serious illnesses and recognizing the importance of dignity, autonomy, family and home-based support. This article examines how Chile can translate that legal entitlement into coordinated practice across primary care, specialist services, hospitals, homes and communities, while strengthening workforce capability, caregiver support, territorial access and continuity at the end of life. Read more...
Dementia Care in Chile: Building Coordinated Support for People and Families
Chile is entering a new phase of dementia policy as population aging, the updated National Dementia Plan 2025–2035 and the development of Chile Cuida bring health care, long-term support and caregiver needs closer together. This article examines diagnosis, GES guarantees, primary and specialist care, community support, family caregiving, residential services, workforce, territorial inequality and the governance needed to turn separate interventions into a more continuous dementia pathway. Read more...
Residential Long-Term Care in Chile: Capacity, Quality and the Future Role of ELEAM
Residential long-term care remains an essential part of Chile’s evolving care system, particularly for older people whose dependency, dementia, health needs or circumstances cannot be supported safely at home. This article examines the role of Establecimientos de Larga Estadía para Adultos Mayores (ELEAM), including capacity, regulation, funding, workforce, quality, family relationships and territorial access, and considers how residential care should develop alongside Chile Cuida and stronger community-based support. Read more...
Aging at Home in Chile: Building Community-Based Alternatives to Institutional Care
Aging at home is becoming one of the most important tests of Chile’s emerging long-term care system. For many older people, remaining in familiar homes and communities supports autonomy, identity and social connection, but it depends on more than family care alone. This article examines how Chile Cuida, municipal networks, SENAMA programs, primary healthcare, rehabilitation, housing adaptation, workforce and technology can combine to build credible community-based alternatives to unnecessary institutional care. Read more...
Dependency and Care Needs in Chile: Understanding the Changing Demand for Support
Chile’s long-term care challenge is shaped not only by population aging but by how functional dependency develops, varies in severity and affects households differently. Around 1.5 million adults were living with functional dependency in ENDIDE 2022, yet the support required can range from occasional help with instrumental tasks to continuous assistance across everyday activities. This article examines how Chile can translate dependency data into better assessment, service design, workforce planning, caregiver support and territorial capacity. Read more...
Population Aging in Chile: What Demographic Change Means for Long-Term Care
Chile is aging rapidly as lower fertility, longer lives and a changing population structure increase the proportion of older people while reducing the future working-age base. This article examines what that transition means for long-term care, Chile Cuida, family caregiving, workforce capacity, housing, prevention, financing and territorial planning—and why demographic aging should shape the design of Chile’s emerging care system before demand reaches its future scale. Read more...