Malawi, others lobby for elderly health programmes  

Malawi Network of Older Persons Organisations of Malawi (Manepo), HelpAge International Tanzania and HelpAge International Mozambique have reiterated calls for the inclusion of older people in national health programmes.  

The three organisations said this on Wednesday at the start of a two-day regional meeting in Blantyre aimed at sharing challenges, successes and best practices drawn from the two-year HIV and Aids and Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) for 50+ Populations project they are implementing in their countries. 

Manepo executive director Andrew Kavala said the three organisations are implementing the project, with funding from the Southern African Development Community (Sadc), to raise awareness among the 50+ populations on HIV and Aids and NCDs.

“On HIV and Aids we are looking at raising awareness among the 50+ population so that they can go for HIV testing. It is very important for people to know their status, especially the elderly.

“At the same time, we have also been raising awareness to ensure that the 50+ population who are on ART should adhere to treatment.

“And on NCDs, we have been doing the same. We supported few health facilities in Zomba and Mangochi with home-based care kits so that they can do early screening for some NCDs such as diabetes and ensure that those who require immediate attention are referred to appropriate facilities,” he said.

Kavala also said the lessons and best practices learnt from the project will help the organisations to lobby for the inclusion of the elderly in the three countries’ health delivery systems.

He said: “This meeting will give us a good report which will help us to go to, say, the National Aids Commission and other key players on health to see to it that the 50+ population in Malawi is included in planning and programming when it comes to health issues.”

HelpAge International Tanzania head of programmes Leonard Ndamgoba, who is also Sadc regional coordinator for HIV and Aids, said usually, governments and organisations focus HIV and Aids programmes on people aged between 14 and 50, leaving out the elderly.

He said: “At the end of the day, this is the group that is forgotten and very few interventions focus on this age group. But remember, HIV and Aids is aging, with the success of ART, many people are reaching their 50s with HIV and Aids.

“Now if we are talking of the second 95% where we are talking of [ART] and the last 95% where we are talking of viral suppression, if we don’t take care of this age group, it means we are not going to reach the two last 90s.”

Deputy director in the Ministry of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare Loveness Silungwe said a lot needs to be done to reach out to the elderly with HIV and Aids messages.

She said: “There are some strategies and policies that sideline the elderly. [But] the more we sideline the elderly, the more those [issues] are affecting households because most households in the country are supported by older persons.”

Silungwe said her ministry is drafting a bill that will guide in ensuring that the elderly are included in HIV and Aids issues.