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The two national workshops were part of the project entitled “Social Protection - Gender Responsive Health and Social Security for the Elderly”, which is supported by the Government of the Republic of Korea. They followed a regional workshop held in September 2006 in Seoul, Korea, which first raised the issue of the need for gender responsive health and social protection policies.
The purpose of the national workshops was to sensitize policymakers to the phenomena of the feminization of ageing in the region and its specific policy implications and conditions in Viet Nam and Mongolia. Policymakers and planners from various ministries and other important stakeholder organizations were made aware of the urgency of providing gender responsive health-care and social security to the elderly, particularly women. Discussions during the workshops included a review of pension schemes, health-care services and health infrastructure and how these must be directed to cover the needs of women who are marginalized in most schemes and services. Each workshop also focused on the issue of financing gender responsive health policies and services and discussed sources for the allocation of resources to implement gender responsive policies and programmes.
The workshops were timely for Viet Nam and Mongolia, as the feminization of ageing is only just beginning to be understood. An overview by ESCAP of policy options indicated that countries in the Asian and Pacific region are only recently beginning to realize the importance of being prepared for the fact that the majority of the elderly (over 60% by 2025 and more than that by 2050) will be women. Policymakers were made aware that most countries did not have adequate policies on ageing. Even amongst the countries that had put in place such policies and programmes, most of these were gender neutral in nature and hence, often did not incorporate the needs of elderly women. The national workshops raised the issue and presented guidelines that would assist policymakers in developing gender responsive health-care policies and programmes on ageing.
Discussions during the workshops highlighted the fact that “elderly women” are not a homogenous group, and that policymakers need to consider the most vulnerable women - those living in rural areas, working in the informal sector with fewer or no opportunities for social protection, with disabilities or HIV/AIDS, from ethnic minority groups, and widows - in formulating national policy on ageing. The workshops also emphasized the need to undertake preventive measures to stop cultural practices harmful to elderly women, such as violence, abuse and exploitation.
The important role of private sector and non-governmental organizations in providing social security and health-care for elderly women was also explored during the workshops.
Viet Nam |
Mongolia |
The following are a few excerpts from the recommendations made by Viet Nam under each priority area:
Priority area 1: Economy and income generation
Recommendations:
-Provide access to gainful employment opportunities for the elderly in order to augment their income. Develop appropriate job training programmes to provide adequate employment opportunities to women.
-The Labour Law should be adjusted to ensure the equal retirement age for both men and women. However, women should have the option to choose early retirement if they so desire.
-The Service Law and the Civil Servants Law need to be adjusted to make use of the intellectual capability and expertise of the elderly in Viet Nam.
-Responsible agencies should enhance their mechanisms for monitoring implementation of subsidy policies, as defined in Decree 67/2007/ND-CP on 13 April 2007. This decree provides for subsidies for elderly persons who: are single or poor; have a spouse in very poor health; are aged above 85 and have no pension and social insurance subsidies; care for orphans; are disabled. However, it was noted that even though elder persons in these categories are entitled to such subsidies, in practice they may not receive assistance due to poor implementation of the policy.
-In order to better implement laws and policies, intensive communication campaigns are required so that elderly persons and their family members as well as local officials are made aware of such social protection schemes and understand the procedures through which to access them.
Priority area 2: Health-care services
Recommendations:
-Incorporate the needs of elderly women into the National Health Care Strategy.
-Undertake further study to explore the possibility of initiating compulsory universal health-care insurance.
-Periodically monitor the implementation of policies for the elderly, as defined in Circular 02/2004 TT-BYT, which entitles elderly persons to receive a health check-up at least once per year.
-Enhance the use of mass media to promote communication and education on both the physical and mental health-care needs of elderly women.
-Encourage programmes that provide home care or community-based services for the elderly. Initiate social programmes and events through clubs or group meetings in order to improve the social lives of elderly women.
Priority area 3: Medical infrastructure
Recommendations:
-Invest in the Institute of Gerontology to promote research on elderly women and their needs.
-A Gerontology Department should be established in all hospitals at the district and provincial levels, in accordance with the Elderly Ordinance.
-The Government should invest more in local medical infrastructure so that more elderly women can access health-care services.
-Enhance training in gerontology for doctors and nurses and sensitize them to the needs of elderly women.
-Encourage all hospitals to conduct periodic mobile health check-up services in communities.
Priority area 4: Financial resources
Recommendations:
-Financial resource allocations should be increased for the Elderly Association, generally, and for local Elderly Units, in particular.
-The Government should collaborate with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to provide home-based health-care and training for volunteers.
-The Budget Law should be adjusted to ensure that local authorities allocate enough/adequate budget to implement policies for the elderly.
-Budget allocations should be made to implement mass media campaigns which improve awareness amongst children of their responsibility to support and care for ageing parents; financial and tax incentives should be introduced by the Government for children who support their elderly parents.
-International organizations such as UNFPA and UNESCAP need to consider the elderly as a disadvantaged group (just as women and children are) and allocate budget resources to support and promote the elderly.
-UNFPA and UNESCAP should provide technical and financial support to Viet Nam to investigate and research issues relating to the elderly, and also share with Viet Nam information, experiences and successful actions from other countries in the region as well as train staff working in these areas.
Priority area 5: Formulation and strengthening of a gender-sensitive information system and database relating to the elderly in Viet Nam
Recommendations:
-All statistical data on older persons should be collected regularly and disaggregated by age and sex.
-A comprehensive survey of older persons should be carried out and provide for disaggregated data.
-The tools developed by the National Statistical Office to provide for data disaggregated by sex and age should be used in the National Population Survey in 2009.
-Ensure the draft Law for the Elderly is gender responsive and matches the requirements stipulated in the Gender Equality Law. The draft law should be widely discussed among the public before being officially submitted for approval in 2009.
-Review all policies relating to the elderly from a gender perspective. |
For Mongolia, the event was particularly important as the country is in the midst of preparing its national strategy on ageing. The Ministry of Social Welfare and Labour, the partner organization, took the opportunity to invite several representatives from the Aimags (districts) to the workshop to hear their views and consider their priority issues for future planning of a national strategy on ageing. Representatives of the Ministries of Finance, Health and Social Welfare and Labour made presentations on national policies and programmes on ageing from the perspective of different sectors of governance. These national policies were later analyzed by participants in terms of gender responsiveness and resource allocations needed.
On the last day of the workshop, with the assistance of Indu Capoor of CHETNA, India, participants were taken through an exercise of preparing log frames which enabled them to identify gender gaps in the existing national policies related to ageing, to prioritize areas where additional multi-sectoral policies needed to be formed, and to anticipate an implementation strategy - with time lines - which included identifying responsible ministries and non-state actors. In addition, sources of funding were also identified.
The workshop was considered a success by participants. Several noted that the issue of gender responsive policies on ageing had not previously been considered. Research institutes indicated that the discussions had presented new areas for research and data collection. The Ministry for Social Welfare and Labour outlined the forthcoming key national processes for developing a strategy on ageing and the opportunities for further incorporation of some of the suggestions from the workshop. |
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