DUSHANBE, November 28, Asia-Plus — An international two-day conference on problems of older people formally titled “Improvement of Mechanism of Interaction among State Structures, Public and International Organizations as well as Ageing Communities on Promoting Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing” will opened in Dushanbe tomorrow, November 29, Asia-Plus has learned at Tajikistan’s Red Crescent Society (RCS).
The source at a RCS said the conference is staged by RCS within the framework of partnership on the Central Asia AgeNet Without Borders network.
The conference participants include representatives of relevant ministries and organizations, older people from the countries joining the Madrid Plan, international organizations, as well as public associations from the countries participating in the Central Asia AgeNet Without Borders network: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Georgia.
The conference aims to consider issues of raising responsibility of state and civil society in improving state of older people and elaborating formats and mechanisms of interaction among state structures, business sector, public and international organizations of Central Asia in promoting the Madrid Plan in the region.
The conference participants will also consider issues related to seeking solution to some problems facing older people in the country and integration of all structures, including ministries and organizations, for supporting initiatives of older people.
The conference will also discuss problems such as access of older people to education, social security, healthcare, etc.
The conference is expected to result in signing of a memorandum of cooperation on implementation of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing in Tajikistan.
Adopted in April 2002, the Madrid Plan lists the objectives and recommendations determined by the Second World Assembly on Ageing 2002.
Three main priorities are presented: older persons and development; advancing health and wellbeing into old age; and enabling and supportive environments.
The plan aims to allow policy makers to focus on the key issues associated with ageing. It calls for changes in attitudes, policies and practices, in order to include ageing in global development agendas, to see development as a right of the elderly and to see an end to age discrimination.
