Malta hosts international training programme in social gerontology

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 a million people every month.

In 1985, there were 427 million people aged 60 and over, constituting 8.8 per cent of the world's population. It is projected that by 2025, 14.3 per cent of the world population will be aged 60 and over. This is expected to increase to two billion by 2050. We are experiencing a revolution in longevity in which the average life expectancy at birth since 1950 has increased by 20 years and is projected to increase by another 10 by mid-century.

Since 1985, the majority of the world's older persons are to be found in developing countries. Here, the increase will be greatest and most rapid. In fact, the older population is expected to increase fourfold by 2050.

This dramatic and unprecedented increase in the number and proportion of elderly people in the world will lead to unique political, economic and social consequences. In developing countries, this demographic development will pose a particular challenge.

Although a number of developing countries have initiated various innovative and concrete measures aimed at meeting the needs of older people, there exists an acute shortage of trained care-givers at all levels in the field of gerontology.

For the 21st year, the UN's International Institute on Ageing in Malta (INIA), in collaboration with the UN Fund for Population Affairs (UNFPA), is organising an international training programme on social gerontology between tomorrow and February 26 at the Imperial Hotel, Sliema.

The programme will be opened by Parliamentary Secretary for the Elderly and Community Care Mario Galea in the presence of INIA's director Joseph Troisi.

This multi-disciplinary training programme in social gerontology, designed by an international expert group, aims at providing a broad and up-to-date understanding of the complex and far-reaching consequences of mass longevity.

The participants, who hail from Cameroon, India, Indonesia, Malta, Nigeria, Philippines, Romania, Russia, Thailand and Turkey, will be helped to evolve and implement appropriate policies that will ensure a high quality of life for older people.

The programme consists of lectures, workshops, discussions and site visits to St Vincent de Paul residence, Mtarfa Home and Villa Messina in Rabat. Apart from local lecturers, international tutors invited to participate are Prof. Aisan Hamid Tengku, director at the Institute of Gerontology, Selangor, Malaysia, and Prof. P.V. Ramamurti from Sri Venkateswara University, India.