wfn.org | U.N. looks to worldwide assembly on aging in 2002

[NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG]

Oct. 10, 2000 News media contact: Linda Bloom·(212) 870-3803·New York
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UNITED NATIONS (UMNS) - An upcoming gathering on aging will help the global
community adjust to the fact that one in every five people will be 60 or
older by 2050 and meet the challenge "to adapt to this demographic
revolution," according to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Annan sent a message to participants at the 10th Annual International Day of
Older Persons on Oct. 5 at the United Nations. Part of the focus was on a
Second World Assembly on Aging, which is set for April 2002 in Madrid,
Spain.

Susanne Paul, a United Methodist participant and founder and president of
Global Action on Aging, said she hoped churches would contribute to the
discussion in Madrid. "Certainly, the assembly would do well to give plenty
of space to hear the voices and hear the ideas of the religious community,"
she added.

Julia T. de Alvarez, ambassador of the Permanent Mission of the Dominican
Republic to the United Nations, told the gathering that the First World
Assembly on Aging - which took place in 1982 in Vienna - was ahead of its
time. Today, she added, "The phenomenon of worldwide aging is now a
recognized fact."  

But there remains a need to build awareness and create "workable solutions
to potential problems" arising from the population shift. "For the next half
century, aging as a worldwide issue can only loom larger," Alvarez pointed
out.

Nigerian Ambassador Arthur C.I. Mbanefo raised a concern of "increasing
neglect of older persons" in developing countries. Many countries have no
provisions for caring for the aged, he said, and economic deterioration in
those nations has worsened the situation.

Assumptions made by governments at the 1982 assembly on aging did not occur,
Paul said. "The first assembly simply took the best practices of North
America and Europe and put it into this international plan of action," she
explained. "But most of those benefits have not been extended to developing
countries."

The second assembly, in Paul's opinion, must examine the material conditions
of older people in developing countries and address their need for income
support.

Young people speaking at the International Day of Older Persons event
sounded another message for the 2002 assembly.

Two 14-year-old students from Ewing, N.J., Nate Gates and Matt Gazda, talked
about the success of a program called "Inter-Generational Connection," which
links middle and high school students with residents of a continuing care
retirement center.

"Programs such as these need to be established around the world," Gazda said
as he encouraged the United Nations to have young people represented at the
Madrid assembly.

Jessica Frank, a graduate student in gerontology at Hofstra University,
echoed that encouragement, noting that for the first time in history, there
will be a simultaneous "bulge" of  youth and older people in the general
population.

She said she also was concerned about future needs of her own generation.
"Planning and policy changes must happen now to benefit tomorrow's elderly,"
Frank declared. She added that young people must be involved in shaping
those policies.

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United Methodist News Service
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