Care Across the Life Cycle: Building Care Systems in Latin America and the Caribbean

This note presents the definition, relevance, and objectives of a care system from the perspective of both care recipients and providers. It also outlines a menu of care interventions for targeted populations throughout peoples life cycle and highlights policy areas where the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) can support the sector throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.

The note is organized as follows. After an introduction, Section 2 discusses the objectives, institutional organization, and financing of care systems. Section 3 analyzes the subsystems that provide care services for children, people with disabilities, and older people with care needs, describing key interventions or policies where IDB can help countries in the region strengthen their care system activities. Finally, Section 4 presents programs and policies focused on caregivers and the IDBs work in this area.