HelpAge India emphasizes on ‘Build Back Better for Elderly’

Central Chronicle News
Raipur, Oct 02: To mark the UN ‘International Day of Older Persons’, HelpAge India on Friday launched a national campaign ‘Build Back Better for Elderly: Act Now – Health, Income and Dignity’. In a post Covid19 context, the campaign will highlight three prominent issues affecting country’s ageing population – Health – ensuring 100% double dose Covid19 vaccination for all elders, accelerate implementation of healthcare services for elderly, Income – ensuring pension and livelihood opportunities and an Enabling Environment – by promoting digital literacy amongst elderly. State Unit of HelpAge India organized a programme at Press Club here in whih Health Minister T S Singhdeo was present as chief guest.
HelpAge India model of Elderly Livelihoods or Elder Self Help Groups (ESHGs) is based on the belief that every individual elderly would like to better their conditions. The concept of ESHGs for the first time the Sr Citizen group members came together as a constituency, ‘for’ and ‘by’ themselves articulating their needs and implementing their own programme. The ESHG groups in Bhatapara Block have done it during the pandemic and the groups are further strengthen to take it further. This model has been found very effective in addressing the social isolation with financial empowerment thereby restoring dignity and among the members of the group. HelpAge has been supporting the Centre’s vaccination drive, facilitating more than 2.30 lakh vaccination of elders’ across the country at its project locations in more than 100 districts. Launched in 2010, as India’s first national program for healthcare of the elderly, the National Program for Health Care of Elderly (NPHCE) has all the core elements focusing on community based geriatric care, but it needs be effectively implemented and the process accelerated, to help elderly live active and healthy lives. 96% Sr Citizen are still digitally illiterate, this has widen the intergenerational gap thereby the elderly are further subjected to loneliness, isolation & neglect during the pandemic. Therefore, it is very important that the elderly are digitally empowered to do make the best use of the digital platform not only to do their daily task but also to connect to near and dear ones. To do this it needs a joint effort of the family, community and the younger generation to empower our elderly to lessen the digital divide, informs Subhankar Biswas, State Head (Chhattisgarh) HelpAge India.