The workforce crisis is real, and it’s international. In the words of Katie Smith Sloan, president and CEO of LeadingAge and executive director of the Global Ageing Network, “The challenge facing all countries is the same: Who will provide care for our ageing?”

In her latest article on the Global Ageing Network website, Sloan reminds us that serving and caring for ever-increasing numbers of aging people is a severe challenge everywhere. While all nations lack the workforce numbers required to meet growing needs, many countries face additional pressures. For instance, she cites the work of Dr. Leon Geffen, a family physician and researcher in South Africa who describes “skipped-generation societies where family caregiving is so important … and often the family caregivers are older persons themselves.”

Dr. Geffen will be the opening keynote speaker at the Social Care International Workforce Summit on September 6, one day before the start of the 2023 Global Ageing Conference in Glasgow, Scotland. Joining Geffen in the speaker lineup will be Dr. Robyn I. Stone, senior vice president and co-director of the LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston, known for her research on global ageing and her concern for direct care professionals that make our field work.

For more on the September 6 Workforce Summit and the whole Global Ageing Conference (September 6-8), read Sloan’s full article here.