National Senior Citizens Centre, (NSCC), has embarked on the standardization of guidelines and framework to end the isolation of health and social care to older persons in Nigeria.
Director General, NSCC, Dr. Emem Omokaro, observed that for efficient care provision to older persons on the area of health and social care, there is need for quality assurance policy guidelines and a regulatory framework.
She made the observation at a Two-day National Workshop on Development of Older Persons Care Quality Assurance Policy Guidelines and Regulatory Framework organised by the NSCC in collaboration with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, (UNDESA), Tuesday in Abuja.
Dr. Omokaro said, “The shortfall in availability of family care givers, lack of incentive, gross inadequacy, and non-existence of systems and processes, as well as the lack of explicit guidelines, among others, has made the provision of care for older persons consistently inappropriate.
“The NSCC’s efforts aims to integrate quality supervision, monitoring and evaluation of services across the continuum of care provided to older persons to meet their social, medical, economic and personal needs.”
Speaking on the importance of a standard operating procedure towards ensuring older persons are not left behind as a major theme of the UN Social Development Goals, (SDGs), UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Matthias Schmale, said even though the Nigerian society is known for taking care of its older persons, this is no longer so as over time, due changes in the society and modernization
“I came here thinking we don’t have to worry because Nigerian society takes care of its older people in their homes. Although there are still families that do that, a part of the education journey is that this is true to some extent, but it’s overtime beginning to change.
” I really pay tribute to the NSCC and others for making us all realise that times are shifting and there is need to evolve systematic ways beyond the family as to how we take care of older people in the society,” he said.
Schmale assured that the UN. will continue to work towards inclusion of all, including consideration of older persons as a distinct group in all it’s programs as well as continued partnership with the NSCC.
