Ethiopia: Country Urged Not to Forget Its Elderly

The Daily Monitor

Ethiopia

April 4, 2007
 

Tesfa Social and Development Association (TSDA), a local NGO, and HelpAge International, an international NGO on Tuesday called for an urgent attention to the old and helpless who they said were in a difficult position to sustain their lives.

The elders who are now struggling for their lives, have either no support at all, or are victims of HIV/AIDS, they said adding a sectoral part of the society was "left out-of-the-way." HelpAge International Country Director, Ms Lizzie Nkosi, said it was a pity that the five year plan fails to put in to consideration the issue of the elderly and the various problems associated with the old.

"In the five year development program or strategy you will not find the place given to the elders' issue,"she observed.

She said the old-related issues were being overshadowed by other "more important" ones like gender, children, the youth and other "sartorial issues." "It is negligibly considered as a normal or a less of human interest issue," Lizzy said.

Nkosi was speaking at a workshop under the theme Strengthening Regional Response to Reduce the Impact of HIV/AIDS on Elder People which was organized with a view to sensitize media professionals on the matter.

Lizzie criticized the Ethiopian media for not giving the due attention to the issue and urged practitioners to play a part for the media was "the most effective techniques to reach out to the poor and the old." Birhanu Abera, General Manager of TSDA said on the occasion that although the country's constitution provides for the protection and respect for their rights to privileges of the elderly "as much as the country's can afford", it does not elaborate on their implementation.

That has been part of the problem, he said, for our elders to find themselves in a situation with economic and social predicaments.

"Government and the entire public should give high attention to elders for we all have the obligation and social responsibility to take care of elders as they are the guardian and experienced members of the community," Birhanu said speaking at the workshop.