International training programme on ageing

For the 20th consecutive year, the International Institute on Ageing, UN-Malta (INIA), in collaboration with the UN Fund for Population Affairs (UNFPA), is organising an international training programme entitled 'Economic and financial aspects of ageing'. The programme, to be held between tomorrow and March 27 at the Imperial Hotel, Sliema, will be opened by INIA director Joseph Troisi.

The programme is aimed at providing participants with a broad and up-to-date understanding of the basic issues involved. In so doing, while maintaining the economic development of the country, a high quality of life is ensured to older people.

The first quarter of the 21st century has often been called the 'age of ageing'. It is a well known fact that the world's elderly population is increasing by one million people each month. This number is expected to increase to two billion by 2050. Moreover, since 1985, the majority of the world's older people are to be found in developing countries. Until recently, in most developing countries, caring for older people was generally resolved by the immediate family. As a result, many governments have depended on the traditional role of the family for the welfare of their older population.

Though the family in most developing countries is still the principal and most important provider of care and support for older people, the rapid socio-economic changes that have been taking place during the past decades, particularly industrialisation and urbanisation, have tended to modify the picture.

The erosion of family income has substantially reduced the family's ability to support its older members even when it is willing to do so. Consequently, the needs of older people have become harder to meet without the support of the specialised programmes and services implemented by governments.

Though a number of developing countries have adopted legislation and have established schemes designed to provide old-age income security benefits, their coverage has been confined to a particularly small population of wage earners and salaried employees in the modern urban industrial sector.

The programme consists of lectures, discussions and site visits to St Vincent de Paul, Villa Messina in Rabat and Mtarfa Home.