Articles

Colombia’s National Care System: Building a New Architecture for Care, Rights and Shared Responsibility
Colombia is building a National Care System that seeks to move care from an overwhelmingly private family responsibility toward greater social, territorial and state co-responsibility. This article examines the policy architecture behind that transition, how CONPES 4143 connects caregivers with people requiring care, assistance or support, and the governance, workforce, financing, data and local-delivery challenges that will determine whether national ambition becomes meaningful support in communities. Read more...
Financing Long-Term Care in Colombia: Public Funding, Household Costs and the Care Gap
Colombia finances long-term care through a fragmented combination of family resources, unpaid care, territorial budgets, older-person welfare funding, health-system services and private purchasing rather than a single comprehensive long-term care benefit. This article examines how that financing architecture works, how recent reforms are widening support for home and community care, and why sustainable expansion will depend on making hidden household costs, territorial inequality and long-term care demand more visible. Read more...
Who Provides Long-Term Care in Colombia? Families, Communities, Providers and the State
Long-term care in Colombia is provided through a mixed and still-developing ecosystem in which families remain central, while municipalities, community organizations, health services, older-person programs and private providers contribute different forms of support. This article examines who actually provides care, how responsibilities and funding are distributed, where formal and informal provision intersect, and how Colombia’s National Care Policy is beginning to reshape the balance between households, communities, markets and the state. Read more...
Colombia’s Health and Social Care System: What It Means for Older People
Older people in Colombia often move between healthcare, family support, municipal social programs and community services rather than through one integrated pathway. This article examines how the health and social care systems interact, where responsibilities sit, how funding and quality oversight differ, and what fragmentation means in practice for access, continuity, hospital discharge, caregiver burden and the country’s emerging care reforms. Read more...
Aging in Colombia: Demographic Change and the Growing Demand for Care
Colombia is aging rapidly enough to reshape demand for healthcare, long-term care, family support and community services, but demographic change will affect territories and households differently. This article examines how longer lives, falling fertility, functional need and changing family capacity interact, and what municipalities, providers and national policymakers need to understand when translating population aging into practical care-system planning. Read more...
How Does Long-Term Care Work in Colombia?
Colombia's long-term care system is developing across health services, social protection, territorial programmes, community support and extensive unpaid family care rather than through one unified entitlement. This article explains how the system currently operates, where responsibility sits, how care is financed and delivered, and how the emerging National Care System could reshape access, workforce, quality and accountability as population ageing increases demand. Read more...