Foundation Advocates Improved Healthcare For Aged People

A non-governmental organisation under the auspices of Axios Senior Citizens Foundation has called on the government at all levels to improve healthcare delivery for the aged people in society for them to have a sense of belonging.

Chief executive officer of Axios Senior Citizens Foundation, Murjanatu Habibu, made the call during the medical outreach organised in the Kubwa district of Abuja for the elderly people by the foundation where over 150 aged people benefited from free medical services.

Habibu said that globally, people wrongly link old age to retirement, pension collection, and withdrawal from society and that this perception needs to be reviewed because the aged can still be very active in nationbuilding.

"We aim to reintegrate and reengage our seniors back to society by making them more active and by encouraging social interactions for them. This will be achieved through our planned services such as day centres, foodbank, and social clubs.

"We aim to get our seniors involved in things they used to love or encourage them to learn at least a new skill. These activities will reduce the sedentary lifestyle seniors are usually pushed into after retirement and in old age. We aim to promote active aging, and reduce depression and other age-related diseases," she said.

A pioneer and board of trustee member of the foundation, Habibu Aliyu, while speaking during the outreach, said that although there is a large population of the aged in the country, government cannot do everything for the people.