Are the elderly in Pakistan getting their due share in health services? Results from a survey done in the peri-urban communities of Karachi.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the health, activity and social status of the elderly.


METHODS
This Cross-sectional study with qualitative and quantitative designs was conducted in two areas of Karachi; one was a peri-urban squatter settlement and other a middle income community. The students of second year at Jinnah Medical College were trained to collect data, which was then entered on database IV and analyzed on the SPSS statistical package.


RESULTS
The average age of peri-urban respondents was 66 and urban was 69 years. Majority of the senior citizens were independent and 69% had active daily life (ADL), power of decision making for adults was related to their status in the family (p < 0.000), majority were alert, happy and satisfied with life with no difference between urban and peri-urban residents. Fifty-three percent of peri-urban and 25% of the urban residents wanted to be employed and 13% of peri-urban and 22% of the urban wanted to continue working at the time of retirement. Fifty-two percent were suffering from hypertension and out of these 81% were on medication and of these 33% could not take drugs due to economic reasons. Their ailments included diabetes (15.6%), difficulty in walking (46.7%), vision disturbances (71.3%) and hearing loss. Seventy-three percent said that the health care services are present, but insufficient to deal with geriatric care (50%) and unsatisfactory (53%). There was a total lack of social services for elderly in the community.


CONCLUSIONS
In the present cultural set up of Pakistan although the elderly are taken care of by their families but the majority want to continue working and be more independent. Most of the study population had one or the other form of ailment related to ageing which impaired their ADL indicator. There is extreme deficiency of health and social care services for the elderly hence the health care providers should start allocating and improvising for the specialized needs of the elderly. The social structure for elderly should be developed and jobs should also be created for the ones willing to continue working.
Baig
L A
LA
Department of Community Health Sciences, Karachi Medical and Dental College.
Hasan
Z
Z
Iliyas
M
M
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006299:Health Services for the Aged; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010154:Pakistan; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors