Impact of COVID-19 on Older People in Liberia

• Authors: Togba Slewion Sam
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Social policy development in Liberia falls short in representing the voices of the country’s 180,000 people 65+ in determining policies aimed at enhancing their quality of life. There are the lack of legislation and a national social protection policy for older people’s rights, including housing, health care and transportation which may enhance exclusion practices of the elderly. The continued neglect of older people in Liberia did manifest significantly during the deadly Ebola outbreak in the country in 2014, which claimed the lives of over 4,800 persons and over 10,000 Ebola-infected persons (Slewion, 2015). The Government’s National Ebola Response Policy specifically mentioned women and children as the vulnerable groups amid the health crisis. Meanwhile older people, who we refer to as the most “vulnerable of the vulnerable” social groups were not mentioned. Now when the government is appointsing national structures and mechanisms to respond to the prevailing global pandemic manifested by the Coronavirus also known as COVID-19 we are witnessing the same situation. Data were collected and reviewed based on Personal Social and Home Assessments of 200 Older People, as part of a national Older People Stay-At-Home Campaign launched on May 15, 2020, and being implemented by the Coalition of Caregivers and Advocates for the Elderly in Liberia (COCAEL). Preliminary findings suggest, among others, that there is a continued neglect and marginalization of older people in Liberia during the COVID-19 pandemic. The government has no global action plan on how to ensure the older persons safety and needs in Covid-19 pandemia. Due to the lack of the elderly empowerment in Liberia through social protection programs the seniors' quality of life remain low or even worsen because of present higher risk of serious ilness of Covid-19 and poverty.

Keywords

EN

COVID-19 Impact; older adults; barriers; Liberia

• Publisher: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Akademii WSB
• Journal: EXLIBRIS Biblioteka Gerontologii Społecznej
• Year: 2020
• Issue: 1 (18) /2020 Old age - international perspective – theory and practice
• Pages: 115-122

Dates

published

2020

Contributors

author

Togba Slewion Sam

• Social Work Department United Methodist University, Liberia, West Africa and, Center for Community Advancement and Family Empowerment (CECAFE)

References

• Global Humanitarian Response Plan Covid-19, (2020).
• National Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL) COVID-19 Data, (2020).
• Helpage International Forum Report, (2017).
• Liberia Institute of Statistics & Geo-Information Service. (2009). 2008 population and housing census of Liberia. https://www.lisgis.net/pg_img/NPHC%202008%20Final%20Report.pdf.
• Republic of Liberia. (2014). National Ebola response strategy. https://www.unicef.org/emergencies/ebola/files/National_Ebola_Response_Strategy_Sept_2014.pdf.
• Global Economic Forum. (2017). The global human capital report 2017. https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-global-human-capital-report-2017
• Slewion, S., (2015). Brief communication: Giving older people a voice in Liberia, west Africa. African Journal of Social Work, 5(1): 131-137.
• World Health Organization. (2014). WHO: Ebola response roadmap situation report. http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/136508/roadmapsitrep?sequence=1
• UNDP (2020) COVID-19: Cities in the frontline of response and recovery: calls for adequate investments at local level; https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/news-centre/news/2020/covid-19--cities-in-the-frontline-of-response-and-recovery--call.html

Identifiers

DOI

10.24917/27199045.181.10