Forum is aimed to draw public attention to the problems of elder people, to provide full information about the demographic aging in our society, individual and social needs of elder population, to sum up Russian and international experience in this sphere, to make for the promotion of our manufactures, producing goods and services for these social groups, and to contribute to the development of corresponding markets.
Forum program:
International congress "Social adaptation, support and healthcare for elder people in the modern society";
"Care, Aid and Mercy - 2010" -exhibition:
Governmental structures of social support for the elder population
Financial, social and insurance support for the elder population
Healthcare
Equipment and rehabilitation means for the elder and handicapped
Employment
Professional trainings for the social and medical personnel working with the elder and handicapped
Charity funds, public and confessional organizations
The International Congress "Social adaptation, support and healthcare for the elderly in the modern society" opened in the pavilion 6 of "Lenexpo" exhibition complex on March 18, 2010. Several dozens of Russian Regions took part in the event.
Vladimir Khavinson, the director of St. Petersburg Bio-regulation and Gerontology Institute, Nadezhda Uskova, the deputy director of the department of social protection of the Russian Ministry of Healthcare and Social Development, Alexander Rzhanenkov, the chairman of St. Petersburg Committee for Social Policy, Josef Troisi, the director of the UNO Gerontology Institute, and Andrey Batashev, the chairman of the Russian Pension Fund, greeted the congress participants.
Nadezhda Uskova, the deputy director of the department of social protection of the Russian Ministry of Healthcare and Social Development
Nadezhda Uskova introduced her report "Caring for the Elderly and Veterans is the priority for the State Social Policy."
- It is the first time when we have managed to organize a Federal level congress devoted to this problem. The number of elder people in Russia is growing. Now there are around 30 million people , who belong to this age group , and that means that every fifth citizen of our country has already reached the retirement age, - said Mrs. Uskova and thanked "Lenexpo" on behalf of the minister Tatyana Golikova.
She was also talking about specific problems, typical for this age group, such as unemployment, lost of usual social status and others. E.g. a significant number of elder people have 5-7 chronicle diseases, 74% take constant medication.
A new National project "Healthcare", launched 2 years ago, has helped to cut the numbers of general and infants' death rate. In future it will be focused on the cardiovascular diseases; specialized health centers will be opened in the regions.
Senior employment will also become one of the Federal priorities. Together with pension growth it will make for the improvement of living standard for the people of elder age.
In general, Nadezhda Uskova's reportwas mostly devoted to the problems of social services for the elderly.
Alexander Sidorenko, the senior councilor of the European Center of Politics and Research in the sphere of Social SupportAlexander Sidorenko, the senior councilor of the European Center of Politics and Research in the sphere of Social Support, told about the realization of Madrid's International plan, developed to deal with the problems of aging in the former USSR countries. The main idea of his report was the prediction of society's aging. Our society has to learn how to accept such changes and deal with them.
Galina Kolosova, the deputy chairman of St. Petersburg committee for social policy, was talking about the priorities in the sphere of elderly social support.
- 1,2 million people out of total 4,5 million St. Petersburg citizens, (which makes 26% of the city's population) have already reached the retirement age. Adaptation of society, economy, and infrastructure to the fact of population aging is an important issue in the conception of St. Petersburg demographic development.
Mrs. Kolosova provided detailed information about St. Petersburg social support programs for the elderly, such as specialized geriatrics homes, "social taxi", "nursing" and "emergency button" projects.
Many specialists and scientists from different Russian regions also performed with their reports, shared experience and told about new projects, developments and achievements.
