ZAMBIA: Growing Number Of Aged Gives Zambia Grey Hairs

LUSAKA, Zambia (Independent), December 27, 2007: The growing number of senior citizens in the southern African country of Zambia is giving the government grey hairs. From around 300,000 currently, the number of over-65s is expected to shoot up to 500,000 by 2010, Community Development Minister Catherine Namugala said this week. Improvements in medical services in both urban and rural areas are credited with keeping Zambians alive longer but health officials are worried about who will look after the swelling ranks of the aged. More and more Zambians are breaking with the tradition and putting their elderly parents in nursing homes. Others have succumbed to the HIV and Aids pandemic, leaving young children to the care of their grandparents. Zambia has over 750,000 Aids orphans. The total population of the former British colony is estimated at around 11,5 million. "The elderly are already facing a big challenge of looking after their orphaned grandchildren. They are in dire need of support to cushion their suffering," Namugala said. Social workers and police have also sounded the alarm over increasing violence against the elderly. Older men or women are sometimes branded wizards or witches and blamed for the deaths of young people, poverty and other misfortunes. Zambian police spokesperson Binnie Kapeso confirmed instances of old people being murdered by close relatives on suspicion that they had "bewitched" younger family members. - Sapa-DPA © 2008 Independent Online.