Celebrating the silver generation

It was a picture that broke the collective heart of the world. The picture of a 90-year-old man pushing a popsicle cart in the mid-day Florida sun to earn a few dollars went viral in a few hours. Fidencio Sanchez the Ice Cream Man is symbolic of the struggle of older people who have to eke out an existence in a harsh world that sometimes neglects them.

Since the picture created a storm on the Net and a debate in society about elderly care in general, Sanchez has got lucky. Photographer Joel Cervantes Matias started a fund for Sanchez which has now generated thousands of dollars. Soon CNN and the BBC were featuring Sanchez's story as a story of compassionate strangers coming together online to honor a hardworking elder. But millions of other older people are not so lucky. And more people are joining the ranks of elders as health care systems get better around the world.

The composition of the world population has changed dramatically in recent decades. Between 1950 and 2010 life expectancy worldwide rose from 46 to 68 years, and it is projected to increase to 81 by the end of the century in most developed and developing countries such as Sri Lanka which have good health indices.

Women outnumber men by an estimated 66 million among those aged 60 years or over. Among those aged 80 years or over, women are nearly twice as numerous as men, and among centenarians women are between four and five times as numerous as men. For the first time in human history, by 2050 (just 35 years away), there will be more persons over 60 than children below 16 in the world.

Almost 700 million people are now over the age of 60. By 2050, 2 billion people, over 20 per cent of the world's population, will be 60 or older. The increase in the number of older people will be the greatest and the most rapid in the developing world, with Asia as the region with the largest number of older persons, and Africa facing the largest proportionate growth.

With this in mind, enhanced attention to the particular needs and challenges faced by many older people is clearly required. Just as important, however, is the essential contribution the majority of older men and women can continue to make to the functioning of society if adequate guarantees are in place. Human rights lie at the core of all efforts in this regard.

These efforts were in focus during the International Day of Older Persons which fell on October 1 (Saturday), which incidentally marked the Universal Children's Day as well in many countries. We all begin life as infants, then enter childhood and youth, middle age (50 plus) and finally old age (generally after 60 or 65). In fact, some even call old age the "second childhood".

The 2016 United Nations International Day of Older Persons (UNIDOP) took a stand against ageism by drawing attention to and challenging negative stereotypes and misconceptions about older persons and ageing.

The UN notes that ageism is a widely prevalent and prejudicial attitude that stems from the assumption that age discrimination, and sometimes neglect and abuse of older persons is a social norm and therefore, acceptable. It is a reality in some form in all societies, and finds expression in individuals' attitudes, institutional and policy practices, as well as media representation that devalue and exclude older persons. In 2014, Governments around the world adopted a resolution at the Economic and Social Council that recognized ageism as "the common source of, the justification for and the driving force behind age discrimination."

Such discrimination shapes how older persons are treated and perceived by their societies, including in medical settings and workplaces, creating environments that limit older persons' potential and impact their health and well-being. The failure to tackle ageism undermines older persons' rights and hinders their contributions to social, economic, cultural and political life.

During the last decade, population ageing has led to the introduction of new policies and programmes, in which the social sector has taken centre stage. Many Governments in developed and developing economies have designed or piloted innovative policies in the health, social security or welfare systems in recent times. Sri Lankan Governments have formulated many programmes for the welfare of older persons.

In addition, several policy framework documents, including national plans of action on ageing have been enacted. Specific age-related legislative measures in areas as varied as building codes, licensing and monitoring of care centres and vocational training have also begun to emerge. All levels of government, from local to national, have taken a share in this responsibility, and have either created new institutions or renewed existing ones to seek ways of gradually responding to the challenges faced by older persons and ageing societies. The biggest challenge faced by Governments is managing an ageing population. The best answer is keeping them productive. Some countries have raised the mandatory retirement to above 60, but the bigger challenge is finding avenues to keep them occupied even after a late retirement. There are many jobs which do not require much physical exertion that can be done by older persons.

Another challenge is healthcare. The rapid advances in medicine over the past few decades have enabled millions more to live to a ripe old age, but this puts Governments and health care authorities in a dilemma - healthcare costs have spiraled as more people live longer but require advanced medication, surgery and other procedures. Sometimes this leads to ethical considerations as well - if an 80-year-old man and a 20-year-old youth are critically injured in a motor accident, who do you try to save ? Most people will say the 20-year-old, but is the life of the 80-year-old not equally precious ? In some cases, he may even be the sole breadwinner as illustrated by the Sanchez case. Who can judge on such situations ?

Governments also face the challenge of designing the built environment to accommodate the needs of older persons. Many of them have mobility issues and Governments have to spend additional amounts of money to ensure their mobility. Hence the deployment of wheelchair friendly buses and vehicles.

Financially, pensions are a huge worry for Governments. Granted, the pension is based on salary deductions over the years, but for a country such as Sri Lanka which has over one million public servants this is a major issue. Pensions too have to be increased from to time to reflect the rising cost of living, but by this time Governments have to fund it without necessarily resorting to pension funds.

There is no single solution to the problem of managing an aging population. The best approach is to think of them as an asset and evolve programmes that enable them to give their best to the society in the twilight of their life.