Guided by His Highness Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Mohamed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, Sharjah has emerged as a shining example and model of age-friendly cities, being the first Arab city to join the Global Network of Age-Friendly Cities in 2016, said leading social gerontologist Dr Kathleen Brasher.
Speaking at a 2-day workshop (Oct 2-3) at the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, hosted by Sharjah’s High Committee for Follow-up of Membership of International Network of Age Friendly Cities, Dr Brasher lauded the Emirate for according special attention and care to the elderly as a government policy.
Government institutions in the Emirate have developed their services targeted at this group by providing them with health care in the comfort of their homes through the ‘Healthy Aging’ initiative, which includes mobile clinic and ‘Mercy’ initiative for 24/7 home nursing, besides exempting older persons from transportation fees and offering them age-friendly homes and places, she said.
Dr Brasher also highlighted the significant role played by the Emirate’s private sector in providing various services to the elderly, which helps support government spending, and in introducing initiatives that promote the well-being of senior citizens. These include the ‘Active and Effective Aging’ initiative to ensure the participation of the elderly in society, and the government telephone services initiative ‘We Come to You’.
She emphasised that the strategic plan of the Global Network of Age-Friendly Cities aims at enabling older people to integrate successfully into society and contribute by sharing their invaluable experiences and insights with younger generations. To this end, the Network works to bolster the moral environment that supports and protects the rights of older persons and to develop a policy to legally ensure their rights.
The eminent expert, known for her work with the World Health Organization on age friendly initiatives, shared the experiences of other global cities, such as those in Canada and Australia, which have successfully facilitated the transition to healthy aging by enabling older people to develop healthy and active lifestyles that enhance their sense of security during this age.
Social Inclusion With Dignity
In her workshop, attended widely by a number of senior officials and representatives of various Sharjah government institutions and entities, Dr Brasher repeatedly emphasised the critical importance of social inclusion of the elderly with dignity and concepts like ‘healthy aging’ or ‘active aging’.
In the light of WHO principles and guidelines, she explained that ‘healthy aging’ requires a number of factors such as a change in the way we think about aging and elderly people; creation of age friendly environments; alignment of health systems to the needs of elderly people and development of systems for long-term care.
She stressed that to ensure healthy aging, it is important to reduce physical and structural barriers in society and ensure accessibility and safety for older people.
Benefits to Aging
Pointing out the many benefits of physical, social and psychological inclusion and integration of the elderly in society, Dr Brasher said it improves physical and mental health; buffers impact of physical decline and allows for meaning and purpose in life.
She asserted that social inclusion of the elderly is interconnected with their physical inclusion. She also underlined the importance of making the elderly feel at home and wanted and cherished by their societies for healthy aging.
Dr Brasher emphasised that social participation is the core pillar of active aging, calling for involving the older people in day-to-day social activities. This improves survival rate of elderly people in case of illnesses as much as 50%. Engagement with life is a core human purpose, she said adding that it is even truer in the case of the elderly.
Asma Al Khodari, Director of the Committee’s Executive Office Supervising Sharjah’s accession to the Global Network for Age-friendly Cities said that the workshop is aimed at improving the abilities of coordinators by providing in-depth understanding of the programme’s criteria with the help of international expertise. The idea was to introduce all stakeholders to the world’s best experiences in this particular field and explore which of these can be implemented in Sharjah in line with the outlook of the Emirate’s leadership.
The workshop was held under the auspices of High Committee for Follow-up of Membership of International Network of Age Friendly Cities headed by Sheikh Salem bin Abdulrahman Al Qasimi, Chairman of Sharjah Ruler’s Office.