The need to support the aged

02-03-2011

THE Minister of Health, Mr Joseph Yiele Chireh, has emphasised the need for Ghana to have a policy that will promote active ageing and also make use of existing structures to cater for the aged.
He said in a situation where our joint family system and family values were gradually eroding and taking away the traditional safety nets for the elderly, we need to find appropriate measures that will provide the elderly with some support and care.
In an address read on his behalf by the Director of Human Resource at the Ministry of Health, Dr Ebenezer Appiah Denkyira, the Health Minister said he intended to put together a team of experts to advise him on developing a framework for such policy guidelines.
The address was read at the First International Seminar on Ageing in Ghana, organised in Accra by a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Akrowa Aged Life Foundation (AA-LF). The event which was on the theme “Changing the Face of Ageing in Ghana: New Horizon, New Hope” was in conjunction with the Ministry of Health (MOH) and Health Concern Ghana.
According to the 2010 Population and Housing Census, persons aged 65 years and above and considered aged, constitute 5 per cent of Ghana’s population of more than 24 million.
As part of his address, the Health Minister indicated that “from a health perspective, we need to organise our health services with emphasis on addressing active ageing and the life course. In short, we need a policy on geriatric care in Ghana; a policy that will bring on board all other services that will promote active ageing and make use of existing structures to cater for people in old age in this country,” he stressed.
Apart from the issue of income security, Mr Chire said perhaps health security represented one of the basic pre-requisites of an enjoyable life for elderly people, adding that “health in old age depends on people’s lifestyle and behaviour during their life-span.”
For her part, the Executive Director of Health Concern Ghana, Mrs Mary Aboagye, said Ghana was committed to the Copenhagen Declaration which sought to promote social development that would be beneficial to all members of society, including the aged.
Giving some facts about the aged, she said globally there was an increase in the proportion of the population aged 60 years and above and stated that in Ghana the proportion of aged people increased from 4.0 per cent in 1984 to 5.3 per cent in 2010, according to the 2010 census figures.
Mrs Aboagye said Ghana’s life expectancy had increased from 45.5 years in 1986 to 58.1 years in 2000, adding that it had increased the demand for health services, thereby increasing the cost of healthcare and medication.
Speaking on “Care for the Aged: The need for capacity building”, she called for holistic care for the aged and categorised such care into economic factors, social factors, physical factors and spiritual factors.
Speaking on Capacity Building for Eldercare, the Principal of a training institute in Denmark (SOSU Silkeborg), Ms Bente Strager, said there was the need for professional care givers for aged and pointed out that although nurses provided treatment to the aged, they were trained as care givers.
Citing examples from Denmark, she said many of the aged were cared for in their homes and advised care givers to show respect and understanding as well as engage in dialogue with the aged if they wanted to provide proper care.
Other speakers who addressed the participants were the Chairman of AA-LF, Ambassador Charles Agyei Amoama, Mr Richard Larry Tetteh also of AA-LF, Mrs Joana Ansong of Health Care Ghana and Mr Neil Vestergaard of SOSU AASRHAUS, Denmark.