Share of elderly population in Bosnia rising, stronger support systems needed

This was said by participants at the conference ''Healthy Ageing – Community-Based Models: From Good Practice to Sustainable Models in Local Communities'', held in Sarajevo today to mark the International Day of Older Persons and 15 years since the opening of the first Healthy Ageing Centre.

Bosnia and Herzegovina Civil Affairs Minister Dubravka Bosnjak said the country's support system for older people needs to be further improved, while noting that other countries around the world face similar challenges.

Speaking on the International Day of Older Persons, Bosnjak said the occasion should provide an opportunity to consider what kind of society we want to build and how to adapt it to the fact that life expectancy has increased significantly.

''We must bear in mind that BiH is a demographically old society,'' Bosnjak said, noting that 23.5 percent of the country’s population is over 60.

FBiH Labour and Social Policy Minister Adnan Delic said nearly one in five residents of the Federation of BiH is over 65, making it important to continuously develop policies and services for older people.

He said the ministry was already implementing projects aimed at healthy, independent and active ageing, including the "Home Help" project, for which 2 million Bosnian marks (approx. €1 million) has been allocated this year.

"We want older people to receive the assistance they need in their own homes, with home helpers available to them," Delic said.

He also pointed to the growing number of healthy ageing centres, most of which are being opened through the private sector, and noted that the Federation of BiH has a facility in Ljubuski providing care for older and infirm people.

Sejdefa Basic-Hadziavdic, executive director of the Partnership for Public Health Association and organiser of the conference, said the organisation receives daily requests from citizens across BiH to open healthy ageing centres in their local communities.

She said Sarajevo Canton currently leads with 15 such centres, while other areas have yet to develop similar programmes to a sufficient extent.

Basic-Hadziavdic stressed that older people who remain healthy and active for longer benefit not only themselves but also their communities, recalling that during the floods in BiH, members of the older generation were among the first to make themselves available to their local communities.

The conference is organised by the Partnership for Public Health Association, the FBiH Ministry of Labour and Social Policy and the International Academy of Sciences and Arts in BiH, in cooperation with the European Association of Emeritus Professors. It is supported by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection.