In our rapidly aging world, older people will play an increasingly important role—through volunteer work, passing on their experience and knowledge, caring for their families, and participating more extensively in the paid workforce.
Even today, older people make enormous contributions to society. For example, throughout Africa—and the rest of the world—millions of adults living with AIDS are cared for at home by their parents. When the patients die, their orphaned children (currently 14 million under the age of 15 in Africa alone) are mostly cared for by their grandparents.
The crucial role of older people is not limited to developing countries. In Spain, for example, care for dependent and ill people (of all ages) is mostly provided by older people, especially older women. The average number of minutes spent per day providing this care increases exponentially with the caregivers’ age: 201 minutes if the caregiver is in the 65–74 age group and 318 minutes if they are aged 75–84, compared with just 50 minutes if the caregiver is in the 30–49 age group (Durán H, BBVA Foundation, 2002).
Such contributions to development can only be ensured if older people enjoy adequate levels of health, for which appropriate policies must be adopted. In line with the Madrid International Plan of Action, the World Health Organization launched a document in 2002, “Active Ageing—A Policy Framework,” describing its criteria and perspectives for healthy aging throughout life.
At our Fundación Alares, we work to ensure that older people have the quality of life they deserve and that their caregivers learn to take care of themselves in their daily lives. The social changes of the last decade have brought the widespread incorporation of women into the labor market and increased life expectancy to our society. For this reason, more and more families have to turn to professionals to care for their older relatives.
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