AN event commemorating the International Day of Older Persons was held at Mingala Thiri Hotel in Nay Pyi Taw Hotel Zone yesterday.

Union Minister for Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement Dr Soe Win, who is the chairman of the Myanmar Elderly Committee said that in honour of the Elderly Day, the nation’s oldest grandfather, U Aung Tun, aged 121, from Paletwa Township, Chin State, and the oldest grandmother, Daw Chaw Yin, aged 123, from Magway Township, Magway Region, have been handed over K1 million each through the respective regions and states.

Although the interim population census of 2019, the number of elderly people showed about 5.2 million, the estimated population census of 1 October 2023 stated the number of elderly people has increased to more than 6.3 million in Myanmar.

Therefore, the country’s economic policies and social policies must be reviewed and prepared for the future.

According to Myanmar’s National Strategic Plan for Social Protection (2014), social pension for the elderly has been supported nationwide since the fiscal year 2017-2018. Currently, there are 198,721 social pension beneficiaries.

After that, the Deputy ministers and members of the Committee for the Elderly presented medical supplies and donations to the grandparents, and the Ministry of Health’s Medical Centre conducted a medical check-up on the grandparents.

The theme of this year’s 25th International Day of Older Persons is “Fulfilling the Promises of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights for Older Persons: Across Generations”.

MNA/KZL

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