Today is Children’s and Elders’ Day. As we collectively celebrate it, it is worth evaluating the progress we have made in advancing the rights and improving the quality of life of two of the most vulnerable segments our population pyramid.
Let’s start at the very bottom of this chronological pyramid structure: Children.
If we go back in time, we can see evidence of many forward strides taken by the past and present government of Sri Lanka to address the rights and interests of both children and young persons, Beginning with the Children’s and Young Persons Ordinance No 48, the principle legislation in Sri Lanka to address their rights and interests in 1939, the years that followed saw several Acts that took these rights and interests to a higher level. Sri Lanka also became a signatory to the Child Rights Legislation in 1990 ratified in 1991. This was followed by a Childrens’ charter and in 1996 the establishment of the National Child Protection Authority Act No 50 of 1998 under the Presidential Secretariat which set up a the hotline ( childline 1929) to help children who were harassed or abused via mobile phones or a website
Gaps
Yet piercing through the fabric of these commendable gains in children’s rights and protection, are glaring loopholes in both the system and the way society looks at these rights., that threaten these Rights.
Molesting and sexual abuse continues with impunity. So does trafficking of children with the idea of luring them into prostitution or as child soldiers.
Take the shocking news report a few days ago, where Police took into custody a 15 year-old-girl who had gone missing and was found to be forcibly employed as a stripped at a night club. What is still more despicable is that one of the main perpetrators of this crime was only 18 years old.
This calls for an urgent rethink on evaluating parental vigilance on the movements of their children both inside the home and outside.
Road accidents and their impact on children is another area that sees glaring loopholes.
Despite heavier penalties and threats of jail sentences, we now see a sharp rise in road accidents caused by careless or drunk drivers, where young children die or are maimed for life. A move to make parents pay the price of their children’s unnecessary exposure to physical harm and even face jail sentences could not be charged against juvenile offenders who have broken the traffic regulations with or without their knowledge , following last week’s killing of a schoolchild by a 15 year old driving his mother’s car, has been welcomed as a step in the right direction.
Children whose lives have been snuffed out by home injuries and accidents is also on the rise . So too are a fatalities caused by animal bites such as the 7 day infant who died after being badly bitten by a dog while sleeping in his cot .
Children’s Foster homes: how safe?
Children’s Foster homes run by the state are few and far between. Private homes and orphanages offering quality child care in a child friendly atmosphere can be counted on one’s fingers. While home care within the family unit is by far the best option, here too broken homes and exodus of mothers to Middle East countries have put many children at great risk of mental, physical and drug abuse when left alone or a play on the streets.
Role of schools
What is needed then is for schools to take on that responsibility given that most children spend at least eight hours in school. Within that time, school heads and teachers must make an effort to provide their students the best care they can, to instill good moral values and healthy lifestyles and life skills. To turn a blind eye to this pressing need is to open the flood gates to more young people taking to crimes on the street. To this end, we need the collective help of all adults, and all ministries that are linked to child welfare.
Most importantly, we need to ensure that whatever steps are taken, they must be, practical, workable, and sustainable... We also badly need a separate unit speciailsing in child welfare in the Health Ministry. Such a unit will go a long way in giving teeth to long neglected laws and acts that priortise child welfare and protection given the ministerial stamp.
Elders care
We now turn to the oldest segment of our population: the elderly.
According to the Dept of Census and Statistics, the elderly population in Sri Lanka over 65 years) has grown rapidly in the past several decades. They were an unprecedented 2.5 million in 2012, and is still increasing. One in eight Sri Lankans is 60 years or over. This is in contrast to about a sparse one in 20 persons a few decades ago.
This growth of an aging population did not happen overnight.
The growing trend in population over 60 years started in the 1950s, as a result of declining mortality and fertility rates. Consequently, the Life expectancy at birth increased steadily. An average man in Sri Lanka can expect to live 77.2 years, and an average women 78.6 years.
Implications
The changing age structure however is not without some serious implications in almost all aspects of elders’ lives, especially, on their health.
A study has revealed that the disease profile has already changed from a predominance of infectious and acute disease to rising chronic, degenerative, and expensive to treat diseases. The ageing population will increasingly put pressure on health systems with the rise of chronic among cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases which need extraordinary care and geriatrics treatment that are expensive. Provision of long term health care is thus a serious issue and promoting healthy lifestyles and broadening the use of clinical preventative services are critical to preserving the health of older adults, the study emphasises.
Data
Lack of a national data basis on elder’s diseases prevalence is another glaring omission.
To meet this demand for much needed data on disease prevalence, the Department of Census and Statistics conducted a year-long household survey on health in 2014 covering the whole country. Some summary findings are given below.
Diabetes, high blood pressure, heart diseases, stroke, cancer, asthma, mental illness, arthritis, and epilepsy were chronic illnesses considered in this survey while acute illnesses covered diarrhea, vomiting, fever, headache, cough, stomach ache, wheezing, sore throat, joint aches and skin diseases. The National Survey on Self-reported Health in Sri Lanka 2014) shows that, the most prevailing (27.3%) chronic illness is high blood pressure, followed by diabetes (18.0%). Prevalence of arthritis and asthma are 8.0% and 5.9% respectively. It was also found that almost 55 percent of elderly population suffers from at least one chronic illness; with most of the population surveyed unaware they had these illnesses.
Accidents
It was also found that elderly persons are more vulnerable to accidents, with about 16 percent of elderly person having experienced an accident compared 11 percent in the general population, and half the accidents occurring at home.
An unexpected finding was that smoking and alcohol consumption by the elderly is very much higher relative to the whole population: smoking is three times higher (17%) and regular alcohol consumption is nearly four times higher (16%).
In its report in 2012, the Census of Housing and Population, also found that one third of the elderly population is affected by functional disability: disability in vision, hearing, walking, remembering and concentration, self-care or speaking.
Health needs apart; it seems that elders in our country have little recourse to protective measures. For example, insurance coverage among them is very low (3.2%) and which is much less than in the general population (11.3%).
We still lack elders friendly hospitals and nursing homes while geriatric is still comparatively a little understood subject.
Given the expenses involved in private nursing care, which few elder can afford on their limited pensions, community volunteers and volunteers drawn from our ever increasing school leaver force, could be one answer to this problem.
An ‘Adopt an Elder’ is another worthwhile scheme which would go a long way to ease the problems that underprivileged elderly have to grapple with.
In a country where meritorious acts are deeply entrenched in our society, this would not be too difficult for the majority of our people
So as we celebrate another national Children’s and Elders’ Day today, let’s make a collective effort to ensuring that our children can enjoy their childhood years in safe , carefree child friendly surroundings, and elders live are able to live out their twilight years in peaceful elders friendly environments. 