- WHO highlights steps we need to take after World Elder Abuse Awareness Day
By Shailendree Wickrama Adittiya
Many Sri Lankans maintain a close relationship with their grandparents, especially since many of us were taken care of by our grandparents while our parents were away at work. In addition to this, Sri Lankan culture largely dictates that we respect our elders. Elderly relatives are thus treated with love, patience, and respect, but one cannot deny that the elderly are also vulnerable to different forms of abuse in Sri Lanka and globally.
Sri Lanka is a country with a population of 21.5 million, of which 16.9% are over the age of 60. According to the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS), one in every four Sri Lankans is expected to be considered elderly by 2041.
Globally, the population of people aged 60 years and older will more than double by 2050, going from 900 million in 2015 to about 2 billion.
The United Nations (UN) identifies persons over 60 years as elderly persons and the World Health Organisation (WHO) defines elder abuse as “a single, or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship, where there is an expectation of trust, which causes harm or distress to an older person”.
World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is commemorated on 15 June annually and was initiated by the International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (INPEA) in 2006. In 2011, it was recognised as a United Nations Day by the General Assembly.
During the past year, one in six people over the age of 60 experienced some form of abuse in community settings, WHO states, adding that the rate of abuse of older people is high in institutions like nursing homes and long-term care facilities. In such places, two in three staff report they have committed abuse in the past year.
Of the cases reported by staff, 32.5% is psychological abuse, 12% is neglect, 9.3% is physical abuse, and 0.7% is sexual abuse.
According to WHO, the rates of elder abuse have increased during the Covid-19 pandemic. The organisation has listed five priorities in “Tackling abuse of older people: five priorities for the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021–2030)” published to mark World Elder Abuse Awareness Day this year.
The first priority is to combat ageism, which is seen as a major reason why the abuse of older people receives so little attention. The second priority is to generate more and better data to raise awareness of the problem. The WHO also stresses the need to develop and scale up cost-effective solutions to stop abuse of older people, make an investment case focusing on how addressing the problem is money well spent, and raise funds, as more resources are needed to tackle the problem.
Elder abuse can take various forms, like physical, psychological or emotional, sexual, and financial abuse. It can also be the result of intentional or unintentional neglect.
According to a 2017 study that was based on the best available evidence gathered from 52 studies in 28 countries, 15.7% of the population over 60 was subjected to some form of abuse. However, the UN states that this is likely to be an underestimation, since only one in 24 cases of elder abuse are reported.
The study looked at the different types of abuse older persons are subjected to and found that 11.6% was psychological abuse. In addition to this, 6.8% of the abuse was financial abuse, 4.2% was neglect, 2.6% was physical abuse, and 0.9% was sexual abuse.
Elder abuse can have physical effects like injuries, lasting disabilities and worsened health conditions, but it can also have psychological effects like anxiety, loneliness and loss of dignity, trust, and hope. It is thus up to us to curb incidences of elder abuse, or we risk facing the same in our own twilight years.
