Life Desk :
The number of older people aged 60 and above is estimated to rise from 542 million in 1995 to about 1.2 billion in 2025. With the rapidly ageing populations, the incidence of abuse towards older people is also set to rise, says theUnited Nations (UN).
World Elder Abuse Awareness Day 2015: Older Generation is in Crisis
Elder abuse is defined as intended or unintended actions that cause harm to an elder. This includes failure by a caregiver to ensure the basic needs of an elder or to save the elder from harm.
According to the UN data, more than 500,000 are believed to be abused each year in the United States alone. The UN notes that the current available numbers are likely an underestimate because most of the elders are reluctant to report abuse themselves because of their physical and mental inability and fear of retaliation from the caregivers. Some elders think that they don’t want to get the abuser in trouble as 90% of abusers are elder’s own family members.
Urging the nations across the globe to voice against the elder abuse and create awareness on the abuse, the UN General Assembly in 2006 announced June 15 as World Elder Abuse Awareness Day.
The awareness day acknowledges the significance of elder abuse as a public health and human rights issue.
Speaking ahead of the World Elder Abuse Awareness Day 2015, a group of the UN human rights experts said that elder adults have rights and must be able to live free from abuse and with dignity and respect.
“Our older generation is still subject to different forms of abuse and violence on a daily basis, even though innovative policies and programs have been adopted by many countries at the national level,” said Rosa Kornfeld-Matte, the Independent Expert mandated by the UN Human Rights.
Rashida Manjoo, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, said that older women are more vulnerable than men to violence and abuse.
“But the ways that older women’s rights are abused and the forms of violence affecting them have been so far seriously overlooked and neglected. The array of forms of violence against older women, as well as the fact that this violence frequently occurs at the intersection of different types of discrimination, calls for the adoption of multidimensional strategies to effectively prevent and fight this violence,” Manjoo said.
Kornfeld Mattem, the UN Independent Expert on elder abuse said that implementation and enforcement are still not to sufficient to prevent, criminalize and eradicate such disgraceful practices against older persons in most of the countries.
“It is time for effective action. Urgent action must be taken to put an end to such a pressing and global issue that destroys lives and families in all regions, in developing and developed countries. On World Elder Abuse Awareness Day 2015, we call on all governments and civic society organizations to renew their commitment to fight against all forms of abuse and violence against older persons,” Mattem said, recalling the duties on all nations to eradicate elder abuse, through legislation, policies and preventive strategies.
Types of Elder Abuse
There are many different forms of elder abuse. Some involve threats against the elderly and some involve financial deception. The most common are defined below:
Physical Abuse
Physical elder abuse is an intended action against an elderly person that results in physical pain or injury. Such abuse includes not only physical assaults such as hitting but also restraining or confining an elder.
Emotional or Psychological Abuse
In this abuse, caregivers speak to or treat elderly persons in ways that result in emotional pain or grief.
Intimidation through yelling, humiliation and ridicule and habitual blaming are the verbal forms of emotional or psychological abuse.
Nonverbal emotional forms of abuse include ignoring the elderly person, isolating an elder from friends or activities and menacing the elderly person.
Sexual Abuse
Sexual elder abuse is sexual contact with an older adult without the elder’s consent. Other forms of elder sexual abuse are showing an elderly pornographic material, forcing them to watch sex acts, or forcing the elder to undress.
Financial Exploitation
The financial exploitation is defined as unauthorized use of an old person’s money or property, either by a caregiver or others.
A dishonest caregiver might misuse an elder’s wealth such as personal checks, credit cards and household goods. Cases of forging the elder’s signature have also been reported as financial exploitation.
Healthcare Fraud and Abuse
Healthcare fraud is known as charging exorbitant amount for healthcare services without providing adequate services by unethical doctors, nurses, hospital personnel, and other professional care providers. The abuse also includes overmedicating or undermedicating and suggesting fraudulent remedies for elders.
How to Prevent Elder Abuse
The three essential steps to prevent elder abuse are listening to elder adults and their caregivers, intervening when you think elder abuse is taken place and creating awareness among people how to recognize and report elder abuse.
What you can do as a caregiver to prevent elder abuse
If you find it too hard to take care of your elder one in your family, requesthelp from friends or relatives or local care agencies instead of crossing the line into elder abuse. Also find a support group for caregivers of the elderly.
Courtesy- -medindia
