…elderly role models sought
WINDHOEK – The Minister of Health and Social Services, Dr Richard Kamwi wants senior citizens to live healthy lifestyles and to become role models for the younger generation.
He said if elderly people live healthy lifestyles this would also encourage their children to view them as role models. “Unless we start promoting healthy lifestyles now, Namibians young and old will in the near future face diseases with no one to take care of them,” the minister said while addressing senior citizens at Omaruru on Tuesday. In the past, diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, gout, cancers, heart attacks, chronic respiratory diseases and high cholesterol levels were associated with the elderly, “ Kamwi remarked. However, things have changed and nowadays millions of deaths worldwide occur among people who are below the age of 60. “They are also referred to as diseases of the rich, yet they are increasingly becoming a burden to low- and middle-income countries where the majority of the poor live, including Namibia,” he said. Statistics indicate that diabetes and heart-related diseases are among the top 10 diseases and among the top 15 in-patient causes of death. “Although some of the conditions are hereditary, they are also caused by harmful behaviours related to the type of lifestyles we choose to live. These lifestyles include eating unhealthy foods, the excessive intake of alcohol, tobacco use and lack of exercise,” he said.
Furthermore, he said the welfare of the elderly should not be left in the hands of the government. “A community without senior citizens in its midst remains a community without proper guidance,” he said, adding that senior citizens are pillars in society. They perform various functions such as caring for children, especially orphans, imparting traditional knowledge, wisdom and skills and they also provide the needed stability in families. “As Africans it is our duty to care for our senior citizens to see to it that they have shelter, and that bread and water are available,” he said.
By Staff Reporter