411008_Report_BaselineAssessment_NRCS_final

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Nepal Red Cross Society Ageing & Health Project Baseline Study ReportExecutive summaryNepal Red Cross Society has included ageing as one of the key programmes in its five yeardevelopment plan considering older people as one of the vulnerable groups and prioritised ageingpopulation as priority beneficiaries of its development interventions. In line with this, NRCS incollaboration with Swiss Red Cross intends to initiate a pilot on Ageing and Health at SuryabinayakMunicipality, ward no 2 (Balkot).Keeping this in view, with the purpose of preparing a baseline status of old age people of the ward no2 of Suryabinayak municipality (Bhaktapur district), this study was conducted during November-December 2021 applying mixed methods (quantitative and qualitative) and participatory approachesengaging the older people. The specific objectives were to identify issues and needs of the agingpopulation of the area along with use of government policies and facilities by the senior citizen. It alsoaimed to identify senior citizen and their family’s knowledge, behaviour, and practices in relation tohealthy ageing.Major findingsAmong the respondents, 55% (142/256) were female and 44.5% (114/256) were male. 48%(N=123/256) were from 60-69 age bracket, and 62% were 70+ age group. 46% of the respondentswere living there for 20 years or less where as 64% were living there for longer period of over 20 years.Clearly, this area (ward number 2) is rapidly urbanising with influx of people from all over the country.The data suggested that Senior citizen in ward number 2 are generally happy and majority are livingin a joint family. Corollary to this, 78% expressed their overall satisfaction to the life they are livingand only less than 4% expressed their complete dissatisfaction. But this situation may change as socialand family structures are changing rapidly."Daughter in law (Buhari) care for me, prepares my favourite meals, but during day time thereis no one to stay with me" (82 years old female)As for the daily routine is concerned, most had 'normal' routine fixed, like engaging in householdactivities, watching TV , using social media, go out and meet friends in tea shops and so on. Only smallpercentage (12%) of elderly people in this area were engaged in some sorts of income earningactivities. Data also did not suggest that the majority of the senior citizen were keen on engaging inincome generating work.Among all those who are 70 years old and qualified for pension (N=148/256), 68% of the respondentswere receiving social pension or single women allowances (Rs 4000, USD 35/month) and 30% were onretirement pension. Those who do not have other income source, Rs 4000 was said to be too small tocover their basic needs.Contrary to the near universal access to social pension, access to and use of other old age benefitsannounced by the government 1 were not satisfactory as many people (62.5%) were not aware of suchfacility. Service providers were also not very supportive in implementing the government policy.Utilisation of the government health insurance too was not satisfactory either, with only 20%1Govt. Announced facilities includes -discount in public transport, discount in hospital charges, free treatment forcertain conditions i.e. dialysis for kidney patients, cash contribution towards treatment of major diseases likecancer, heart problem etc)iv
Nepal Red Cross Society Ageing & Health Project Baseline Study Reportenrolment with 12% getting their health care cost covered. Similar dissatisfactions were alsoexpressed during FGD. One of the reasons for such low uptake of the service, as implicitly indicatedby the data could be physical distance of the hospital that offer services to insured people.General health condition and access to health servicesAt the time of interview, 74% of the respondents were receiving one or another treatment for theirhealth problem. While the majority reported very good to moderate health condition, quite a fewreported bad (31%) to very bad (4%). Among those (N=190) who were receiving medication for theirhealth problem, large percentage of the respondents (44.74%) were under 70 years of age. Themedications was for wide varieties of health problems, but most notable health problems werehypertension (58.95%) , diabetic (30.5%) and asthma (20%).Nearly half of the respondents (47.6%) visited hospital/health facility within last three months forvaried problem. But interestingly, those who visited health facilities (N=122), majority had gone toprivate hospital/facility and very few (only two person) went to government health post, which is veryclose and in the same ward. For majority (63.93%), the cost of health was paid by the family members,only 12% got their cost covered through government health insurance and 8.2% paid from their ownsavings. But generally older people were cared by the family members.Some FGD participants however had critical views about caring older person.v"it is difficult to handle old people, they often grumble on everything. They could be lookedafter better if they behave little more decently" (46 years old male)Engagement in routine physical activities were reported to be moderate by 43%, while 20% and 23%reported low and basic movement respectively. 10% reported almost none physical activities.Almost all FGD participants expressed the lack of community facility such as park or library where theycould spend time and meet friends."There is no any facility in the community for the older people" (62 years old female, 70 yearsold male)"It would have been easy to spend time, had there been a park or library in the ward(community)" (80 years old male)Vast majority of the respondents did require only minimal care or no care for daily life. Only 3%required complete care and 12% required partial care.For emotional or psycho social wellbeing, sharing the feelings and interacting with each other isimportant. Majority were quite active and meeting friends very regularly, but over 20% of therespondents reported none, which means they do not meet their friends and exchange ideas andemotions. For mind concentration, only 37% replied affirmatively that they do yoga or meditation. Butpeople (75%) also reported engaging in Bhajan (prayer) and other activities.Community and policy makers perception towards older peopleQuality of life of older people is also influenced by the community perceptions and reactions towardsolder people. The overall response towards community behaviour towards older people was very
Page 1 and 2: Ageing and Health ProjectSuryabinay
Page 3 and 4: Nepal Red Cross Society Ageing & He
Page 5: Nepal Red Cross Society Ageing & He
Page 47: Nepal Red Cross Society Ageing & He

411008_Report_BaselineAssessment_NRCS_final

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?