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Supporting the Development of services for the Elderly in Kemerovo and Kemorovo Oblast

By: Department for International Development - Britain - Russia Partnership

“The institutional and economic changes of transition have impacted hard upon elderly people. In Kemerovo Oblast 630,000 elderly people receive old age pensions. Their standard of living and their sense of well being has deteriorated markedly. For those living in the community, inflation and delays in payment have depleted the value of pensions. There are several consequences: for example diets deteriorate and the elderly sick present themselves to doctors much later [than is desirable], when symptoms are worse, because of fear that the cost of medicines is beyond their reach. Support from previous institutional sources, such as enterprise and trade unions, has become eroded. The isolated elderly are amongst the most disadvantaged because of their more limited support networks and access to non-cash resources and their resulting greater reliance on cash benefits. …..The current social care system is ill prepared to meet the complex range of needs of the elderly in contemporary Russia.” (DfID – Terms of Reference)

“In 1999, for the ‘UN International Year of the Elderly’, Kemerovo regional authorities identified the following priorities relating to older people:

· Improved social protection.

· Improved medical assistance

· Improving health and fitness through better access to sports and health facilities.

· Employment of older people

· Improved psychological assistance

· Improved access to social and cultural activities.

Many of these aims however tend to be beyond the scope of the local authorities as they are at present constituted. There is therefore the need for new approaches and fort inter-sectoral solution to these problems, involving both public sector institutions working and the growing voluntary sector. The region has begun to develop strategies to tackle some of these issues. Examples which have been designed to benefit elderly people include:

· Development of day care centres and a health centre;

· Improvement of home care services;

· Development of “Social Shops” for the elderly, providing low cost subsidised food and clothing;

· Establishment of a Department of Social Rehabilitation for older people…” (RET –Proposal)

The inception phase of this project is now in progress and The RET aims to establish new approaches to alleviating the hardship of the elderly in Kemerovo while supporting and developing existing services for the elderly in the region.