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Table 2 Policy areas for development

From: Ageing, frailty and resilience in Botswana: rapid ageing, rapid change. Findings from a national working group meeting and literature review

Healthcare delivery

1. National education programmes and facilities to reduce stigma and modifiable risk factors for NCDs and mental ill-health and identify common symptoms of disease.

2. Developing a Botswana NCD screening strategy including expansion of the Botswana Primary Care Guidelines to include NCDs with training for healthcare workers.

3. New healthcare delivery models including community-based services for NCDs.

4. Develop human resources for the elderly: e.g., geriatric doctors and nurses, social workers.

Economics- poverty and pension

1. Education about retirement planning to future protect the working population.

2. Raising the state pension to levels which support a living wage and matching retirement age to pension provision age.

3. Employers requirement to offer private pension provision.

4. Encourage “civic society” with more volunteering (youth unemployment and older adults) to improve social engagement.

5. Age discrimination laws to protect the older workforce.

Social networks and resources

1. Age as a protected characteristic or a charter for older people built into Botswana’s law.

2. Reform town planning processes to focus on building resilient communities that support people through life including accessibility, mobility and access to communal spaces.

3. Review of, and increase in, support offered to older people in Botswana to build resilience for managing major life changes associated with retirement and ill-health. This could include supervised care, wellness and adult foster homes linked to the Kgosi (traditional chiefs).

4. Invest in data communications infrastructure including health-related personal information technologies.

5. Inclusion of faith groups and NGOs involved in the care of the elderly and other vulnerable people in national events and celebrations but regulate or audit to ensure suitability of service.

The Botswana Development Goals

1. Consider development of specific health goals for older people in Botswana.

2. Consider the policy levers through health, finance and infrastructure through which the SDGs can be achieved with equitable benefit to older people.

  1. Legend: These form the consensus-agreed policy areas for development to improve the health, well-being and economic status of older people in Botswana across the discussion themes. The numbers or order do not reflect priority