This special issue of SAJG on "The family and ageing in Africa" marks yet another step in the annals of the African Gerontological Society (AGES). The first major step was taken in December 1993 when the society held its first workshop in Accra, Ghana to discuss an agenda on ageing. The results of the workshop were published under the title Effective responses to ageing in Africa by the year 2000 (Apt, Bester & Insley, 1995). Twenty years ago it would have been an impossible task to assemble African scientists and social welfare practitioners to discuss the subject of ageing. Very little researched information existed then and many African governments were likely to assert that ageing was no problem in their country. Even in the 1980s a great deal of scepticism existed in Africa about the need for African gerontology research. Today, and taking a cue from the deliberations of the first AGES workshop, there is no country in our region that is not confronted with the negative impacts of development and urbanization as their country charts its route towards modernization. Even though an ageing agenda still has a low profile on the economic desks of many African governments, the realisation that there are indeed difficulties to be overcome regarding the care of elderly people in Africa is widespread.
Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:rhodes/vital:8071 |
Date | January 1995 |
Creators | Ferreira, Monica (editor), Moller, Valerie, HSRC/UCT Centre for Gerontology |
Publisher | HSRC/UCT Centre for Gerontology, University of Cape Town |
Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
Language | English |
Detected Language | English |
Type | Text |
Format | 44 pages, pdf |
Rights | Ferreira, Monica (editor), Moller, Valerie (editor) |
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