Aged people our assets, not liabilities, say experts
Intl Day of Older Persons today
BSS
Right activists and experts yesterday sounded a note of warning to not to abuse elderly people of the society as they are countrys assets not liabilities, reports BSS. According to National Human Rights Commission Chairman Kazi Reazul Hoque, Elderly people are in no way liabilities to society and rather our assets as they carry the experience of the past and pass it on to the new generation. Bangladesh has enacted the Parents Maintenance Act and has a wonderful national policy for elderly persons that covers everything (aspects) . . .what we need to do is to disseminate and enforce them . . . most importantly we had a social value towards the elderly people which we now need to revive, he said.
Hoque said there was a trend of neglect and abuse of senior citizens in view of changing social pattern and issued a clarion call for increasing awareness to soothe life of aged people.
Something appears to be going wrong in the social system . . . neglect and abuse of elderly parents by their children appears to be a new social trend in Bangladesh, Dr Rahman Jilani, founder and executive director of London- based Sir William Beveridge Foundation (SWBF) told the news agency.
He suggested use of mosques as centres for social works including the campaign for safeguarding the senior citizens while urged people to recall the heritage of Bengali society which put high emphasis on caring elderly parents.
Jilani feared that despite being a growing trend, the issue of neglect and abuse of elderly persons go unreported in most of the cases, barring social and administrative intervention though such acts were punishable under the countrys legal system. Just imagine you have become 75-year old and then think what type of behaviour you expect from others and shape your attitude, said Professor Dr ASM Atiqur Rahman of Social Welfare and Research Institute of Dhaka University.
Reputed nutrition expert Professor Dr Keramat Ali said 26 per cent who walks along the Dhanmandi Lake were found to be suffering from cognitive impairment, updated term of dementia.
Neuro psychiatrist Colonel Dr M Quamrul Hassan said three types of doctors geriatrists, neurologists and psychiatrists were meant to treat the elderly people, while in most cases the psychiatrists can cover also the tasks of two other disciplines in handling the dementia.
UNB adds: The International Day of Older Persons will be observed in the country as elsewhere across the globe today, reports UNB.
The theme of this years day is Celebrating Older Human Rights Champions. On December 14, 1990, the United Nations General Assembly voted to establish October 1 as the International Day of Older Persons as recorded in Resolution 45/106. The day was observed for the first time on October 1, 1991.
The day is observed by raising awareness about issues affecting the elderly such as senescence and elder abuse. It is also a day to appreciate the contributions that older people make to society.
According to the UN, almost 700 million people are now over the age of 60. By 2050, 2 billion people, over 20 percent of the worlds population, will be 60 or older. The increase in the number of older people will be the greatest and the most rapid in the developing world, with Asia as the region with the largest number of older persons, and Africa facing the largest proportionate growth, it says.
