March 11, 2003	Tuesday	Muharram 7, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, March 10: The Ministry for Women Development, Social Welfare and Special Education is formulating a national policy on aging for the welfare of elderly population.

This was stated by the ministry secretary, Parveen Qadir Agha, after presiding over a meeting of a group of experts on issues related to old age, an official statement said.

The meeting was held to chalk out terms of reference for conducting research and preparing recommendations for providing facilities and institutional support to elderly population.

The national policy on aging, Ms Agha said, was being prepared in collaboration with the United Nations Fund for Population for the betterment of elderly people on sustainable basis.

Under the policy, a knowledge base will be created for policy making on the socio-economic implications and challenges posed by the growing number of elderly in the country.

It also aims at creating greater understanding among policy makers about issues pertaining to aging, and development of a nucleus of medical expertise in geriatrics.

The secretary maintained that taking care of the elderly in the family and benefiting from their experiences was one of those good values of the society which must be kept intact and promoted among younger generations for the dignity of the aging population.

Elaborating the areas of research to be covered by the policy, the ministry joint secretary, Shaukat Nawaz Tahir, said studies would include preparation of inventory of existing measures, institutions and mechanisms; issue papers, training material and compilation of the Islamic teachings for the care of elderly. In addition to this, a policy paper will be developed, besides identification of culturally-sensitive strategy of the programmes on aging.

During the deliberations, it was observed that the provision of health facilities remained one of the crucial areas of concern for the elderly and, therefore, should be given priority.

It was also recommended that the studies must take account of variations on the basis of areas, socio-economic classes and urban-rural divide while looking into the problems of the elderly.

Those who attended the meeting included Prof Mohammad Afzal, PIDE demographer Ghulam Yasin Soomro, Dr Raana Mahmood, president, Geriatric Care Foundation, Karachi, National Institute of Psychology chairman Dr Mohammad Parvez, Prof Maqsoodul Hasan Rizvi of Quaid-I-Azam University, former chairman of Social Work Department, Balochistan University, and Shireen Rehmat Ullah.