Excelsior Correspondent
New Delhi, Oct 24: Union Health and Family Welfare Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad chaired the session for launching of the “Global Commission on Ageing in Developing Countries” at Beijing, China. Mr Azad said that the goal of the Commission is to enable gender, equity and rights based policies and programming that will improve the quality of life of the ageing population in developing countries including the 25 member countries of Partners in Population and Development (PPD). India is presently the Chair of PPD.
Mr Azad said that currently for most countries of the world the population aged 60 or over is growing at a rate faster than any other age group.United Nations has made projections that by 2050 there will be more people in the age group of 60 plus worldwide than children aged under14 years. What is also known is that about 80% of these elderly citizens will be living in developing countries, he said.
The Minister highlighted that 25 member countries of PPD constitute 48.6% of the world population aged 60 and above, and this is projected to increase to 57.1% by 2050. Moreover, in 2012, nine Asian member countries of PPD constituted over 76.4% of over 60 years population in Asia, which is estimated to increase to 78.1% by 2050.
Mr Azad expressed his concern that growing numbers of the ageing populations are posing challenges for existing health systems, social security and, in some cases, employment especially for developing countries as they are not fully equipped – either in terms of policy instruments or programmatic interventions to successfully meet the growing requirements of an aging population. But the Health Minister also expressed happiness that ageing populations present not just challenges but also opportunities. The contributions of an ageing population can be enhanced to create a second “Demographic Dividend” by adopting enabling polices for productive ageing and creating opportunities for extended economic life. For this investment in the ageing human capital and creating infrastructure and social support services is an imperative, he emphasized.
Highlighting some of the initiatives of the Health Ministry in India in this area, Mr Azad said that the “National Programme for Health Care of Elderly” (NPHCE) aims at setting up Regional Geriatric Centres in Regional Medical Institutions. Geriatric Units at District Hospitals and Rehabilitation Units at CHCs have been opened with referral support being provided to PHCs and Sub Centres. He noted that so far eight Regional Geriatric Centres have been opened and 100 districts in 21 provinces have been covered under the programme. There are ambitious plans for the 12th Plan period from 2012 to 2017, with an outlay of about 285 million USD (Rs. 1,710 crores), the Minister said.
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