AFRO-NETS> RFI: Health of older people in countries with limited resources

[Thomas Schwarz MMS <tschwarz@medicusmundi.ch>]

RFI: Health of older people in countries with limited resources
---------------------------------------------------------------

Dear All,

At the beginning of the last month of the UN Year of Older Per-
sons 1999, I would like to know if, in the context of a country 
with limited financial resources, the UN and WHO slogans like 
"Active Ageing" and "Maintaining health and quality of life 
across the lifespan" are more than mere slogans: Do you know 
about any public or private programmes which try to materialize 
the call for active and healthy ageing in a specific country or 
region? Key issues are (amongst others):

- enhancing the self-reliance of older people;
- enabling older people to be active participants in community
  life;
- supporting the contributions that older people make to soci-
  ety;
- providing specific and adequate health care and health promo-
  tion for older people;
- ensuring access to health care and rehabilitation services
  for older people;
- developing systems of economic and social security in old
  age;
- paying special attention to the needs of women.

The background of this information request: Medicus Mundi Swit-
zerland, the Swiss network of organisations working in the 
field of international health cooperation, is preparing a next 
year's edition of its quarterly journal "bulletin medicus 
mundi" (see http://www.medicusmundi.ch/bulletin.htm) focusing 
on the health of older people. One of the tasks of our journal 
is to encourage the members of our network to be more actively 
involved in certain issues, which we consider important. There-
fore, we would very much appreciate any information and contri-
butions, which could help us to draw a broader image of initia-
tives and programmes in the field of health for older people.

For details, please contact me directly at the below mentioned 
address.

With best regards,

Thomas Schwarz
Exec. Secretary, MMS
Medicus Mundi
Switzerland Network of Swiss Organisations for International 
Cooperation in Health Care 
Murbacherstrasse 34
CH-4013 Basel, Switzerland 
Tel: +41-61-383-1810
Fax: +41-61-383-1811 
mailto:info@medicusmundi.ch
http://www.medicusmundi.ch

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