Archives

by Lionel Wijesiri

"Ageing is a development issue. Healthy older persons are a resource for their families, their communities and the economy" (WHO Brasilia declaration on healthy ageing, 1996)

In Sri Lanka, we must realize that ageing of the population is taking place at a rapid pace. Today we have about 1.8 million elderly in the population. They would be growing faster than any other group to about 2.7 million by the end of the decade. Each year there would be approximately 75,000 more persons in this group.

Humankind is ageing. The average life expectancy at birth has increased from 46 to 66 since 1950. By mid-century, the ratio of older people in society will double from 1 in 10 persons to 1 in 5. Demographic ageing, long evident in developed countries, is now occurring at a swift pace in developing countries like Sri Lanka as well.

In 2002, the Second World Assembly on Ageing adopted the resolution known as "Madrid International Plan of Action", which called for a fundamental shift in how we think about ageing and older persons.

The Madrid Plan moved policy issues on ageing out of the narrow confines of the social welfare agenda, and into the mainstream of development policy debate. It acknowledged that older persons represent a powerful but untapped resource for society. It put forward recommendations on how we can adjust to an ageing world and build a society for all ages.

Local scenario

People living to older ages is an achievement. But when people live longer and enjoy no social security - have to live below the poverty line, as widows, lonely and ignored by families, community or society - then ageing becomes a problem.

In Sri Lanka, we must realize that ageing of the population is taking place at a rapid pace. Today we have about 1.8 million elderly in the population.

They would be growing faster than any other group to about 2.7 million by the end of the decade. Each year there would be approximately 75,000 more persons in this group. Currently one in every ten persons is at least 60 years old, and this proportion will be close to one person in every five by the year 2030. Women, because they live longer than men, constitute a majority of the elderly. The situation is grim for older persons in our society.

As in many other countries in the region, the role and structure of the family as well as in patterns of labour and migration in Sri have undergone changes. Urbanization, the migration of young people to cities for employment, smaller family size, changing lifestyles, economic constraints and more women entering the workforce, mean that fewer people are available to care for older people when they are in need of assistance.

With respect to the psychology of ageing, it may be said that Sri Lankan society is still stuck in an out-dated paradigm that considers old age as being associated with sickness, dependence and lack of productivity.

However, by contrast, most people do seem to adapt to change with age and remain independent

I believe that ageing is one of our most crucial issues vying for attention.

If there is no intervention now, the situation will lead to an increase in the numbers of destitute elderly, decrease in per capita income and the quality of life of older persons. The basic problem of older persons in our society is a lack of security at three levels: financial, medical and emotional. We must have programmes to address these issues and plans to overcome these problems.

Society's Attitude

The elders of today were those who actually created many of the assets - or set the foundations for the creation of valuable assets - that we see today as being our major source of human welfare, both in a material and spiritual welfare.

* They gave their lives for our education, health, housing, and more.

* They spent tireless nights side by side to take care when we were sick, when we needed company, when we felt lonely.

* They indeed financed the accumulation of human capital that exists today via direct expenses on education or via taxes.

* They created the institutional and political spaces for many things to happen, many of which we give for granted.

Tragically, our society has turned our elders-sources of wisdom and instruction and mentoring-into the elderly-frail, old people mostly shut out of sight.

Symbolically, we have largely removed them from the village that constitutes our lives. It is a truly a terrible form of isolation. This is a tremendous loss-for the elders certainly, but for everybody else, too. No doubt it contributes mightily to the ongoing disintegration of our culture.

Nobody can propose any magical, easy answers. This is a huge, complex problem. I do hope that we can be part of an increasing recognition that there is a problem, that there is a lot wrong with how our society treats its elders.

More concrete steps would help, too, beginning with less segregation of our elders. Part of the answer is genuine, intergenerational community, where all ages mingle together and are recognized as important parts of the community. This can happen in families that aren't geographically distanced from each other. It can and must also happen across family lines since so many families are now distanced from one another.

May be the most important thing about genuine community is it helps us recognize that life is a continuing dance of interdependence. We dance in and out of times when we are dependent on others; we dance in and out of times when others are dependent on us.

One of the curses of modern Sri Lanka is the stigma we've heaped onto dependency. This is especially hard on the old-old, because dependency goes hand in hand with old age. This dependency is especially difficult to swallow when we take away the opportunities for the old to mentor and share their wisdom. We strip away their way of giving back, their way of making relationships reciprocal.

Economic System

Despite all evidence, we have created social and economic systems that have disconnected the elderly from those productive assets. They are at the mercy of financial systems and pensions that are not even decent for their survival. Some of them are in a desperate situation. This disconnection from the productive assets is not only unfair but it should not be acceptable no matter in which society this is happening.

It is essential that our societies change their attitudes towards the actual and potential role of the elderly people in our societies. For the moment, some people think that as a person gets older, their contribution diminishes and, thus, elderly people should be little by little disregarded or to be thought as a major burden.

They may be a burden in those societies where we have destroyed the family unit and, thus, we can only see this phenomenon of ageing or our human connectivity only through the labour market. In other words, we see human identity -socially or otherwise- only via the mechanisms to the creation of material wealth. This social and economic breakdown is the reason for this concept of the elderly person as a burden.

It is important to note that the role of the elderly frequently changes through the development process. In a rural society, the elderly often contribute to the household through providing assets like land and livestock. They have unique knowledge of the land they farm that they can pass on to their children. They have knowledge of herbal medicine and child rearing. Up until death the elderly can contribute to the household chores.

The onset of development often loosens family structures, diminishes the importance of the knowledge that the elderly have as new modern practices take hold, and leaves the elderly feeling abandoned and vulnerable.

Challenge

Addressing these vulnerabilities is a major challenge for the government.

Solutions require public/private partnerships, since government will not have the financial means and capacity to provide all risk management instrument. Workable solutions must also involve the family -as first defence line against many kinds of household-level risks - and NGOs, trade unions and other civil society institutions.

Every one of us can help build bridges between generations by embracing the skills of older persons, whether in community or family affairs, agriculture or urban entrepreneurship, education, technology or the arts, poverty reduction or peace building. The challenge before us is to bring the invaluable attributes of older people out of obscurity and into step with other instruments of development - including the work to achieve our Development Goals.

On this International Day of Older Persons, let us vow to make the most of the powerful resource that older persons represent in the work for development.

www.Pathmaconstruction.com

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries

Produced by Lake House
Copyright © 2003 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager