Reconfiguration of Informal Social Protection Systems of Older Adults in Sub-Saharan Africa Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Narrative Review
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe aim of the paper was to provide a narrative review of the ways in which informal social protection systems for older adults - in the context of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) - were reconfigured during the pandemic. The study was conducted through the lens of the African moral philosophy of Ubuntu. The data analysed came from databases "such as Google scholar, PubMed and JSTOR".
The findings underscore that although the pandemic context enabled older adults to participate in reciprocal exchanges within kinship and community networks, additional vulnerabilities of ISP systems remain, and thus there is a need to strengthen government-led interventions to reduce dependency on ISP systems.
The concept of older adults is not entirely clear to me. Given that definitions of older adulthood vary, clarifying the concept of older adult might help readers to better understand the paper.
A limitation of the study is presented in the Materials and methods section. However, it might be useful to include it in the Conclusion section and improve it.
I would like to suggest that the materials and methods section should be strengthened. The search started in 2015 and ended with recent publications. I suggest to be more specific: what does "recent publications" mean? How did you select the publications you analysed from the "large number of publications"? Indicate the inclusion and exclusion criteria you used to select only the papers you analysed. How did you assess the quality of the articles included in the narrative review?
If I want to repeat the search, I do not have enough information, so I suggest adding more specific information to the methodological description.
The concept of social capital is introduced on page 5 of 15. As there are different definitions of it, I would suggest adding some references to give an idea of which perspectives of social capital you are referring to.
Minor concerns
Some misprinting are present, examples:
Page 3 of 15 row 143 space between “Mligo,” and “year”.
Page 4 of 15 row 191 space between “Africa,” and “Button &…”.
Page 6 of 15 row 285 spaces “(duToit&Neves,2009)”.
Page 7 of 15 row 294 extra comma after the word “youth”.
Page 8 of 15 row 355 – repetition “This paper”.
Page 8 of 15 row 388 spaces “( 2017, p.5)”.
Page 9 of 15 row 408 space “youth(Ferguson,…)”.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThank you for the opportunity to review this manuscript titled “Reconfiguration of Informal Social Protection Systems of Older Adults in sub-Saharan Africa amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Narrative Review”. I have outlined some suggestions to help improve the quality of the paper.
Page 1, lines 34-35: Since this is the first mention of ISP in the main body of the manuscript, please state the full meaning first, and then place the abbreviation in a bracket.
Page 2 line 57: Close the bracket after the in-text citation.
Page 3, Material and Methodology: For clarity, it would be beneficial if the authors document their literature search process. Consider using a flow chart to show how the search was conducted.
Please include the date when the databases were searched.
Since this is a review paper, the authors should state that ethical approval was not required for the study.
Please include the heading: “Results”, before outlining the findings from the literature.
Please add a table to present the included studies thematically. This way, readers can easily identify which articles explored ISP systems of older adults pre-pandemic and post-pandemic, which ones talk about reciprocity, Reciprocity failures, etc.
Please check the manuscript for typographic errors. Page 6, line 268 should spell as systems, not systms. Line 273, please change furtrher to further.
Page 8, line 373. The authors should please ensure consistency in their spelling. The term “aging” should be spelt as “ageing” since you have been using the British spelling in the earlier part of the manuscript. Please confirm and follow the journal’s requirements.
Page 8, lines 383-384: Please provide a reference for the statement.
Regarding the examples the authors cited from South Africa, it is important to acknowledge that South Africa has a heterogeneous context, especially racially. The experience of ISP systems would have vastly different dynamics for older black South Africans, compared to older white, coloured, or Indian South Africans, given the existing economic and racial inequalities in the country. It would be helpful for the authors to specify which racial communities were reflected in their review.
Page 10, lines 466-468: The word “both” makes the sentence seem incomplete. Please consider rewording it to clarify the intended meaning.
Page 10, lines 466-468: Are the authors referring to the governments of African countries or the destination countries of migrant workers? Please specify.
The authors did not say much about the Ubuntu philosophy in the discussion. For instance, the extent to which situations have made people deviate from or embody Ubuntu, how to encourage or sustain this philosophy among people, etc. The authors should consider incorporating such discussion, as Ubuntu is the study’s theoretical framework and a key part of the social fabric in SSA.
The findings presented in the review are drawn from such African countries as South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Mauritius, which may be attributed to the authors’ literature search strategy. However, the review lacks representation from Central African countries. While this is a narrative review that does not require an exhaustive literature search, including all SSA countries in the search terms may have provided a more comprehensive overview.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe author provided a comprehensive response to all the issues raised. The paper is now considered to be more comprehensible. I think that the article can be published as it stands.
