Ubuntu philosophy, old-age humanism and eldercare ethics during COVID-19

This study presents a quantitative re-analysis that evaluates eldercare ethics during the COVID-19 pandemic by comparing the ubuntu-inflected communal care framework, grounded in interdependence, compassion and mutual responsibility, with conventional biomedical infection-control protocols. The article contends that an ubuntu-based eldercare framework not only preserves dignity and strengthens community bonds in crises, but produces significantly greater well-being than approaches centred solely on clinical detachment. A critical examination of extant studies on eldercare and loneliness among seniors across different sociocultural contexts, such as Austria and South Africa, highlights how standard infection-control measures, when implemented without communal safeguards, exacerbate elders’ social isolation and emotional distress. The analysis reveals that current eldercare systems have yet to integrate protective practices such as communal rituals, shared decision-making and intergenerational reciprocity. The article thus proposes a transformative eldercare framework grounded in ubuntu and elder humanism that embeds community “care webs” and “care ethics” to advance equity, participatory governance resilience and compassion in crisis response and everyday practice.