National Aging Policy to come on-stream

By Melissa Bryant
Reporter-SKNVibes.com

~~Adz:Right~~ BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – ON the heels of the Federation’s celebration of Elderly Month, the Ministry of Social and Community Development is putting the finishing touches on a National Aging Policy to be implemented before June 2009.

The move comes as the nation’s life expectancy rate has risen over the past decade from the late sixties to early seventies.

In June this year, stakeholders in the education sector met with Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) representatives to construct the policy, which is borne out of several international treaties such as the Madrid Platform for Action.

According to the Director for Social and Community Development, Jovil Martin, a situational analysis was done to examine the status of existing mechanisms, and while some progress was made there is still room for improvement.

“There are several areas that we need to improve upon including legislation, reinforcement, upgrading and policy development. The policy is very broad and it has specific goals, objectives and programmes that we want to accomplish.

“This initiative is necessary because our people are living longer and we have to assess the adequacy of structures we have in place to care for them. We have to formulate plans that address the issues affecting elderly persons because they cannot be ignored,” said Martin.

She outlined some of those issues, which include employment, emotional and financial support, abuse and neglect, and stated that the policy aims to fill in the gaps that exist in the current elderly care system and to create an enabling and supportive environment for the nation’s seniors.

A second draft of the Policy is currently being reviewed and fine-tuned by small technical working groups established by the Ministry.