On October 1, International Day of Older Persons, UNFPA Armenia participated in a press conference devoted to the issues of elderly people in Armenia, that took place at Armenpress News Agency.
Mrs. Anna Hovhannisyan, Project Coordinator for UNFPA Armenia "Support to Implementation ofPopulation Policies" Project, Ms. Anahit Gevorgyan, Deputy Head of Department for Disabled and Elderly Issues, Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, and Mr. Arthur Torosyan, Founder and President of Association of Healthcare and Assistance to Older People spoke at the press conference.
Ms. Gevorgyan told the journalists that the Ministry envisages introduction of alternative services for elderly people, including a social assistant services, 24-hour nurse services, healthy lifestyle clubs, et cetera. The Ministry is also considering the idea of foster families for elderly people.
According to Anna Hovhannisyan, the elderly have always been and will be in the focus of UNFPA. She mentioned that UNFPA Armenia has conducted a number of studies to reveal the problems of the elderly.
"It's time to provide alternative services: in-house care, introduction of home visits service, small-care homes and other services can be free, paid or co-paid. However, UNFPA studies show that most of the elderly people wanted to get free services. It was expected because many of them are in poor social conditions and are unable to pay for such services," she said.
Mr. Arthur Torosyan, President of the Association for the Elderly Care and Health Care, highlighted the importance of increasing the number of care service providers in the elderly, as well as introducing gerontology and geriatrics in Armenia.
