MY topic, a fortnight ago, on preparing our nation to embrace a future generation of an increased elderly population – together with disabled citizens – seemed to have struck a chord with many-a-readers.
An elderly caregiver of someone with Parkinson’s disease hunted my number down and rang me up. She just wanted to thank me for highlighting her plight.
“As an older person, I always feel virtually ‘invisible’ when I am out in public,” she lamented.
“Banks, shops and government buildings pay little or no attention to my needs as an ageing individual,” she continued.
“Car parks are much too far away from buildings; overhead pedestrian-crossings have become useless now that I can’t climb up stairs anymore, and long queues are no longer challenging to me as it used to be when I was younger.”
Another reader asked:
“Are our town-planners and engineers taking into consideration the medical implications on an ageing population in their designs and policies?”
I put that particular question to Associate Professor Dr Norlinah Mohamed Ibrahim, recently whose job is to often deal with elderly people and healthcare issues.
As it turned out, the head of the neurology unit at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, was quick to confirm the progressive rise of individuals aged 60 years and above which is the globally agreed cut-off age for ageing.
Quoting the United Nations’ document on World Population of Ageing 2009, Dr Norlinah points out that the number of older persons in the whole world population will exceed that of the number of children by the year 2045.
“The last four national census from 1970 to 2000 effectively show a decline in the proportion of younger individuals whilst the elderly are on the rise owing to improved healthcare and declining fertility,” says Dr Norlinah.
By the year 2020, the percentage of elderly individuals in Malaysia will be 9.5% of the total population, with females outnumbering the males.
“This shift in the ageing population has significant economic, social and healthcare implications,” points out Dr Norlinah, who is also chairperson of the Movement Disorders Council – an expert body of the Malaysian Society of Neurosciences.
She then went on to explain the effects.
With the reduction of income earners, more economic demands will be placed on the government to care for the rising elderly population.
Despite the setup of the various formal social security plans to cater for the financials needs in old age such as pension funds and others, not all individuals subscribe to them.
Other factors include social isolation and neglect. These can be brought on by a number of ways from being widowed to children moving away from their parents to seek jobs.
Living arrangements within the extended families – if available – is one form of long term care for the elderly. Others include live-in carers (such as domestic maids) for those with financial means.
However, for those without, long-term care institutions such as old-folks homes, comprehensive community support programmes and other social services need to be developed to ensure that these elderly populations are not neglected.
Dr Norlinah strongly believes that the community needs to adopt a more caring approach in the care of seniors. Everyone must take responsibility.
“Healthcare issues probably have the greatest impact for the elderly population,” she points out.
“As age advances, diseases also become more prevalent. The commonest problems affecting the elderly individuals are eye-sight problems, followed by dental matters and rheumatism.
“Some of these problems may be significant enough to affect their daily functioning,” says the consultant neurologist who specialises in Parkinson’s disease and movement disorders.
According to Dr Norlinah, an increase in the survival of patients with chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, stroke, cardiovascular and kidney diseases due to improved healthcare services, adds to the number of medical conditions among the elderly.
“In addition, neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimers are also more prevalent with advancing age.”
Dr Norlinah says these diseases will eventually affect their daily functioning resulting in an increased dependence on caregivers.
The good news, however, is that with the recognition of some of the problems highlighted, the government has taken steps to improve the care for the elderly in Malaysia.
“Geriatric services with improved medical and social care services have been established in certain hospitals within the country with the provision of home-care nursing and home visits, among others.”
“However, more of such services are needed. Better community support services are required to reduce over-dependence on the primary caregivers.
“Health education and better rehabilitative programmes to improve the health status of the elderly population is needed so that they may have better physical and social independence.
“Additionally, more research should be done on the ageing population in order to assist the government in drawing up relevant and more appropriate policies for the care of the elderly population in Malaysia,” concludes Dr Norlinah.
The End
TOMORROW ON PET+BLOGSPOT: DOGCATCHERS - WHY WE NEED THEM
TOMORROW ON PET+BLOGSPOT: DOGCATCHERS - WHY WE NEED THEM
PET+BLOGSPOT is the official online blog of the Malaysian Animal-Assisted Therapy for the Disabled and Elderly Association (Petpositive). Our contents are ACCURATE, RELIABLE and THE LATEST. We offer both local and foreign news on animals, disability and the elderly. PET+BLOGSPOT was first established in October 2007. Our hits since then is 40,000 hits and counting. PET+BLOGSPOT is updated daily. Kindly take note that views expressed in this blog are not necessarily those of PETPOSITIVE. You may also visit our Webpage by browsing: www.petpositive.com.my
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