A stakeholder grouping on ageing in Africa has urged governments to reverse the persistent exclusion of older people in public, social, economic, cultural and political spheres.
The Stakeholder Group on Ageing in Africa (SGA) noted that African governments and development partners continue to adopt approaches that perpetuate exclusion of older people in Africa’s development, four years after the adoption of the sustainable development goals and 25th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development’s Program of Action Beyond 2014.
This was revealed during the ongoing 2019 Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development (ARFSD) organized by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) in Marakkesh, Morocco.
Roseline Kihumba, SGA-Africa Co-Chair, and International and Regional Policies Coordinator, HelpAge International attributes the continued exclusion to the limited data that could inform legal and policy implications by the governments and at times, “deliberate limited resource allocations”.
“These international development frameworks promote prosperity for all ages, data disaggregation, participation, based on the principles of universality and reaching the furthest left behind first through the “leave no one behind” ambition,” added Roseline in a statement issued in Nairobi on Wednesday.
Dr Prafulla Mishra, Regional Director, HelpAge International noted that there are positive things happening on the continent.
He said a number of governments in Africa have adopted the much-needed universal pension to offer income security for their older people.
Nonetheless, he observed, a majority of older people continue to live in poverty or extreme poverty and are denied the right to make decisions about their personal finances, property and medical care.
In Zanzibar, Kenya, Uganda and Lesotho for example, Dr Mishra noted that the social pension has boosted the value of older people within communities as they invest in livelihood activities which offer stimulus into local economic activities.
Other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have also invested in universal pension schemes including Namibia, Mauritius and Botswana.
Africa region like the rest of the regions in the world is undergoing rapid demographic changes, increasing the proportion of older people despite the population being largely youthful.
Between 2017 and 2050, the number of older persons is expected to grow faster than any region of the world, with a projected 229 percent increase.
JK/abj/APA