Assessing the roles of state and family in the provision of care: a case study of Ghana

The importance of care in engendering well-being has spawned considerable interest in care regimes, but little work exists on sub-Saharan Africa. Using laws, administrative data, previous research and survey data from Ghana, we characterize Ghana’s care regime as ‘supported familialism’ for childcare and ‘familialism by default’ for care for older people and persons living with disability and suggest some gaps in existing typologies. We show that while women dominate care work, extended family also play an important role and that care needs may hamper employment. We nudge policy makers to address unmet care needs, enable the expansion of market-provided care and improve care data.