Senior citizens bemoan poor media coverage

By SITEMBILE SIWAWA

THE Senior Citizens Association of Zambia (SCAZ) has moaned lack of coverage by the media on issues that affect the old aged in communities.

SCAZ chairperson Kufekisa Laugery said the issues affecting the aged in society are not reported on the media for they are regarded as unimportant.

Ms Laugery told Femail news that old people also experience abuse from members of their families and people within their communities.

"Most people do not know that old people also face abuse like the way children do and most abuse comes from family members who accuse them of practising witchcraft," she said.

The aged are mostly accused of practising witchcraft by their family members and they are left to fend for themselves, she said.

She said the aged do not normally have access to health care services because it is expensive and most of them cannot afford.

"There must be special privileges that the aged must enjoy and medicines must be readily available to them as they suffer from different ailments during that period," she said.

Ms Laugery however expressed happiness that government wants to formulate a policy that will enable the aged gets paid.

The aged needs to get paid as most of them are the ones who take care of the orphaned children whose parents have died of HIV and AIDS and some of these orphaned children have ailments, she said.

She lamented that it is difficult to take a child who is healthy and it is more difficult for the one who is frequently ill.

Zambia is called a Christian nation but there is no love for the aged or the less privileged in our society, said Ms Laugery.

She has since urged the community to always report any cases of abuse, old people go through to the police and the victim support unit.

She said the aged also need love and care from the community and family members and not taking them to old aged homes.