- Title: BOLIVIA: Ageing indigenous population struggles to find needed care
- Date: 1st October 2010
- Summary: HUACUYO, BOLIVIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) CLOSE-UP OF A SENIOR INDIGENOUS AYMARA MAN NEAR LAKE TITICACA VARIOUS OF A GROUP OF AYMARA INDIGENOUS SENIORS DANCING IN FRONT OF THE HEADQUARTERS OF THE AWICHAS PROGRAM RUN BY HELPAGE
- Embargoed: 16th October 2010 13:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: Health,Lifestyle
- Reuters ID: LVA3WWJSBENDUNCMSKJRXAE50M5J
- Story Text: October 1 marks the United Nations' International Day of Older Persons around the world and here in Bolivia where the population is rapidly aging, like in most of Latin America, seniors are struggling to find the security and comfort they desire.
A lack of government programs to account for the growing elderly population and a cultural shift that has led many young people that could care for seniors fleeing to urban centres has left many older residents in rural Bolivia to fend for themselves.
But seniors like Faustino Tito Mayta, a 69-year-old of Aymara indigenous dissent, says he and other seniors are finding their aging bodies are not as capable as they were in their youth.
"We didn't used to need mules to carry loads. We would carry what we harvested. We are not as strong anymore. We don't have the strength to work like we did when we were young. I don't know what I will do from here on. I don't have the strength to sow my products. My children have moved to La Paz and nobody can help me. I am alone and sad," Mayta told Reuters.
Mayta and other Aymara elderly gather at the Awichas community centre which is sponsored by HELPAGE International, and international organization that, according to their website, "helps older people claim their rights, challenge discrimination and overcome poverty, so that they can lead dignified, secure, active and healthy lives'.
Once a mostly rural country, only 30 percent of Bolivians now live in the countryside, and 50 percent of this population is elderly as young people flee to urban centres in search of jobs.
Bolivians have taken that search across its borders with 25 percent of people born in Bolivia now living outside the country, according to a government report released in September.
The strategic alliance director for HELPAGE International in Bolivia, Sonia Bills, says the lack of social programs to care and provide for the elderly here is exacerbated by the rapid rate at which the population is aging.
Bills says there is a world-wide demographic shift to an older world with about 1 in 10 people living today over the age of 60 with two thirds of the elderly population living in the developing world.
The group says that in 1950 there were 200 million people over 60 world-wide. That number climbed to 600 million in 2000 and is estimated to reach 2 billion by 2050, the equivalent of 25 percent of the world's projected population.
In Bolivia, and most of Latin America, the population is aging three times as fast as it did in more developed countries in North America and Europe.
"If we look at the situation in Europe it took 100 years for France, for example, to become an older population. In this region the same process is going to take about 30 years. So the problem is adjustment. In most countries of the developing world, including those in Latin America, there isn't the same public policy process to adjust budgets, health systems, retirement benefits," Bills said.
The Awicha program - Awicha means elderly in the Aymara language - has brought together Aymara seniors in Bolivia for 25 years.
Members meet at the area community centres or in members' homes where they eat together and keep alive old traditions of their indigenous ancestry.
The program, backed by HELPAGE which has participated in the Andean nation since 1993 help transport members who find it difficult to travel the often long distances between their rural homes.
Seventy-six-year-old Eleuteria Rojas says despite their efforts the group has grown smaller over the years.
"We've gotten together in this house to eat for five years. But over the last two years there are fewer and fewer "grandparents". Of 20 seniors only 15 remain. Some are like little kids now and can't make it out here and you can't bring them here. They are very sick and don't have the strength. We are very worried about them," Rojas said.
Most seniors in Latin America are not eligible for a state pension if it is provided by their country, because they spent most or all of their life working in the informal sector.
In Bolivia, for example, 65 percent of work done by people over 60 is in the informal sector.
However, though Bolivia is the poorest country in South America, a program built into its constitution guarantees a pension and health coverage for all citizens over 60, something not seen in most Latin American countries today.
A Latin American HELPAGE representative, James Blackburn, said the Aymara seniors know the rights the constitution provides them.
"What best characterizes the 'Awichas' [elderly Aymaras] is their dignity. They are seniors that are aware of their rights and know how to fight for them. Their identity problems have been solved. They know about the Dignity Rent [aid for the elderly] and how to get it. They have health problems that they are resolving with traditional medicine," Blackburn said.
The Awichas, which have been active in the rural Huacuyo community for fiver years also do their part.
The group works with schools to teach younger generations about their indigenous culture and heritage keeping traditions alive.
They share traditional songs and dances with the children as they sing and clap along.
Blackburn says his organization is there to help the Awichas and other elderly people gain access to care and pensions the government has agreed to provide.
"We work around the needs of the seniors. They say then need better health services, so we work with the government to better the implementation and the political system of health care designated for the elderly. Seniors say they need income security," Blackburn said.
Often, if there is a pension provided, it is very little and is not enough to cover basic needs which is why many older people continue to work after retirement.
A 2002 United Nations plan, known as the Madrid International Plan Of Action on Aging, commits governments to provide for the rights of the elderly in economic and social programs.
The non-binding plan will come under review in the next two years and many senior advocates hope the plan will be expanded and hope to see more binding commitments by participating governments to provide for this often neglected, yet growing population. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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