What better way to celebrate international day of older persons than to host a conference on how to improve care and economic security for the elderly? Many older persons suffer greatly especially those abandoned by family. The conference was held today at the Biltmore and we found out more.
Ix-chel Poot - National Council on Ageing
"Today we are having the first national conference on aging and the rights of older persons. It's our activity to celebrate international day of older persons. And what the conference seeks to do is to bring together persons from different backgrounds, our stakeholders across the developmental strategy of Belize, to really discuss aging in a different format, different way than what we normally talk about. Normally we look at service provision, we look at where are the shortfalls for older persons but today we are talking about the convention on the rights of older persons, what protecting those rights would mean for Belizeans and then we are also looking at economic security and we are also looking at the care of older persons. What we found is that 31% of our population has a paid pension, 61% has no pension and then there are those kind of in limbo who receive some kind of benefit. So, we are really talking about economic security, not just from the angle that we need to protect older persons but what we as younger Belizeans can do to change this reality so that, when we become older we have greater economic security. And then we are also looking at the issue of care because as we get older as people live longer, there is a definite need for care. So we are looking at clinical care, in-home care and institutional care this afternoon."
This year's theme is "Stepping into the future: tapping the talents, contributions, and participation of older persons in society."
Email
Print