HealthScapades Episode #19 | Old People Deserve Interventions Too | 31.10.2024
by Tayo Fasuan
The enthusiasm with which old folks across communities in Ekiti State used to embrace the #KnowYourNumber movement to screen 10 million Nigerians for diabetes and hypertension has been incredible.
Not only have they embraced the health programme, but they have also reserved special praises for the Governor of the State, Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji, and the Commissioner for Health and Human Services, Dr. Oyebanji Filani.
They have also clamoured for more of such, having witnessed multiple health intervention schemes over the years for children and young adults. An Iyaloja in Ilawe-Ekiti has jokingly said that the last time they were ‘remembered’ like this was during COVID-19 vaccination exercises.
But isn’t that the truth? During the Measles SIA campaign that just ended a few days ago, I had to correct many folks that older people can take some of the routine immunisation vaccines. The limited vaccine resources and weaker immune systems of children are what make the children primary, and perhaps, only targets of routine immunisation.
An elderly man in Ikere-Ekiti has observed that the difficulty of registering for the National Identity Number (NIN) for the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) has disenfranchised most old people from that national free health scheme, leaving them to only be eligible for malaria treatment under the easily accessible Ulerawa state-based free health scheme.
But like a health worker aptly put it, malaria is the least problem for old people. Most of them complain more of non-communicable diseases than infectious diseases. And with recent reports of reductions in maternal death and neonatal death in Ekiti State, maybe it’s time to give old people some necessary attention, too.
This is needed so that the sarcastic remark of a retiree, who claimed a former Commissioner for Health was ‘his brother’, that the health sector is trying to rush them to their grave by continuously ignoring them in the overall scheme of things, will not eventually be proven right.
I said to myself that maybe we should give them the needed attention. There is hardly any difference between the attention-seeking behaviour of toddlers and old people, and they will keep talking about it till we do something about it.
Specific health interventions, similar to this recent #KnowYourNumber campaign, don’t look bad for them at all. It gives them a sense of belonging as well.