Senior Citizens Program
Elderly people are “invisible” in many countries because of poor monitoring of their wellbeing, according to an index that ranks countries based on the ability of senior citizens to access pensions, healthcare, employment and further education.
"Even to your old age, I am He, and even to gray hairs I will carry you! I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you."
(Isaiah 46:4)
The Senior Citizens Program at MMI's Charity & Social Welfare Division aims to uplift the living conditions of the elderly people in both the urban and rural areas by enhancing their quest for basic needs like food, clothing, shelter and medical care as most of them suffer neglect, and no longer have the energy to be actively involved in any income-generating activity for self-sustenance.
Poverty rules the roost among Africa’s aged persons. Many older people live in rural areas with fewer services, exposing them to economic and social exclusion, and literacy rates among older people – mostly older women – remain low.
In Latin America, having more than 60 years is synonymous with being old and people above this age are commonly excluded from job opportunities and other types of activities.
Millions of older people are invisible, living their lives in countries where information on the quality of older age is missing from international data sets.