International Day of Older Persons calls on society to help the elderly age with dignity

By Victoria Lyimo and Shimbo Pastory

Every October 1, the World celebrates the International Day for Older Persons. The World Social Report titled ‘Leaving No One Behind in an Ageing World’ published in 2023 by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations documents that in 2021 there were 761 million older persons aged 65 and above.

The report projected that by 2050, the older population will rise to about 1.6 billion (World Social Report 2023, p. 28). While globally the ratio of elderly persons was 1 in 10 in 2021, in 2050 it will be 1 in 6 as per projections. 

In Africa, a bigger chunk of the population is young, and the continent is currently leading globally in numbers of young population, where about 40 percent of its population is of age 15 and below, and 70 percent is below the age of 30 years. 

The 2023 report says the median age in Africa is 20 years (UNESCO: 2023). The World Social Report mentions the Sub-Saharan Africa region among the regions that will experience the fastest growth in the number of older persons in the next 3 decades.

Locally, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report of 2022 posits that more than 7 million people in Tanzania's population are aged 60 and above, with the majority residing in rural areas (NBS, 2023). For clarity, the age of 60 years is recognised by the Tanzanian National Health Policy, the Tanzanian Public Service Act, and the Tanzanian National Policy on Ageing as both retirement and old age.

The government has some measures in place to support the elderly, especially with regard to healthcare, social care, poverty, legal protection, and special needs such as disabilities. While these were important priorities in the 2023 National Ageing Policy, quite a number of improvements have been made.

Tanzania was the second country in Africa to develop a National Ageing Policy (after Mauritius), soon after the International Year of Older People, in 1999.

The policy incorporated important parameters to ensure the well-being of older people. With regard to public health, the Tanzanian government, informed by the national health policy of 2007, established an exemption policy in health, in which older persons 60 years and above who are unable to afford health service expenses are exempted from health service charges all over the country. This has helped to ease the burden of care.

In terms of bodily wellness, older persons experience decreased immunity and physical strength, functional limitations, and are prone to chronic diseases (heart diseases, metabolic diseases, cancers) and, in some cases, cognitive problems.

These may result in decreased productivity and economic constraints. Social challenges include decreased opportunities in decision-making, economic production, and limited/decreased social interactions.  In these circumstances, the elderly need a good support system.

While ageing is both physiologically and socially inevitable and irreversible, it is a critical period of alterations (biological, social, and physical strength), which calls for support from other population groups. There is an increased vulnerability to mental health concerns among the elderly, which calls for more compassionate care.

The need for advocacy for the care and protection of the elderly with dignity and value both systemically and among individual persons is higher than we think, especially when we recount gruesome incidences of cruelty and abuse of the elderly and deplorable conditions of living in which many elderly persons live.

It is a fact that many elderly persons face social discrimination, are not counted as existing, and are made victims of actions arising from social biases, superstitions, and stereotypes.

Research reports published within the past ten years by the WHO-African Region, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Human Rights Watch, the American National Institute of Health, Help Age International, and the International Federation on Ageing have extensive and alarming data on the harms of ageism and prejudices affecting the elderly in Sub-Saharan Africa. Ageing has become a significant threat to the holistic wellbeing of the older population.

To ensure the wellbeing of this population group, there is a need for social/community initiatives to create awareness of the challenges, risks, and susceptibilities of diseases to this group. However, due to increasing demands of healthcare and the occurrence and recurrence of diseases, there is a need for higher education institutions to develop geriatric courses to help impart knowledge on the health and care demands of the population group of the elderly.

The government, on the other hand, needs to strengthen older persons’ holistic care programmes and effective and efficient supervision of its provisions and policies to ensure that not only the care needs are met as per predetermined objectives but also that such services are delivered with dignity and a sense of value.

In addition, communities should continue to involve older people in their localities' social affairs conversations and decision-making. To end with, it is important for the youth of today to look at the future with plans of having happy and less troubled old age and retirement.

Victoria Lyimo is a public health researcher, holding an MPH from the University of Dodoma. Shimbo Pastory is a journalist and advocate for positive social transformation, studying at Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines.