Plight of elderly people in Bangladesh

Bangladesh is presently experiencing a demographic shift and the proportion of the population 60 years and older is rapidly increasing. Bangladesh's elderly population is one of the largest in the world in terms of absolute numbers. Currently, older people account for around 7% of the country's total population, amounting to roughly 10 million people. By 2050, the 60+ population will account for 20% of the total population - a four-fold increase from the present time. The increase in elderly population in Bangladesh during the period 1990-2025 is projected to be much faster (219%) than that of European countries such as Sweden (33%), UK (45%) or Germany (66%). While changing lifestyles, urbanization, and the decline of traditional family support system have increased the plight of the elderly people, especially the poor and the women, little attention has been given by the policymakers to their health and social needs. In the absence of a comprehensive national policy on ageing, the individual small-scale programmes by the various development actors remain largely without direction and coordinated action.

In Bangladesh, over the past decade there has been a significant decline in infant and child mortality rate. Control and prevention of diseases, such as measles, poliomyelitis and diphtheria along with extensive use of oral saline for diarrheal diseases have greatly reduced childhood mortality level. In poor families, both in rural and urban areas, older people are often unable to meet the demand due to extreme poverty where food is the top priority needs. Aged people in Bangladesh mostly suffer from various complicated physical diseases and the number is increasing day by day but the services provided through government hospitals are inadequate compared to needs. In order to improve the lives of older people in Bangladesh, the national health system should allocate resources and design strategies to prevent and treat chronic diseases. After the independence, the government of Bangladesh initiated some programmes like pension, gratuity, welfare fund, old-age fund (Boyosko Bhata), group insurance and provident fund for retired government officials and employees. Socio-economic and health care issues of the elderly people in Bangladesh have not yet got expected importance though these are getting worse alarmingly.

The prevalence of morbidities and health care expenditure may be reduced by interactive and participatory education through community organized groups such as self-help groups of the elderly. Besides, ancestral and community level social capital are significantly associated with good quality of life in old age. It is high time we realised what contributions have been made by the elderly to support them at this age.

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