National Award: Magen Mhaka-Mutepfa was the Primary Investigator. Other investigators were Prof Sheila Shaibu and Dr Roy Tapera. The research assistants were Tiro Motsamai, Catherine Moalusi, Nametso Pheto, and Nametso Kgwakgwe.
Our
research findings suggest that depression, anxiety, somatization, social
impairment, and substance use/misuse are the most prevalent mental health
disorders affecting older people in Botswana. These disorders are compounded
by several factors, including poverty, limited access to quality healthcare
services, cultural beliefs and stigma surrounding mental illness, and social
isolation.
Stakeholder
consultations regarding policy formulation on older people in Botswana
are already underway to effect appropriate intervention to inculcate life
skills, resilience, wellbeing, provision of resources, leisure, security,
and healthy physical environments so that the aging population can age
with rights
Botswana’s
population is 2,346,179 million according to the 2022 Population and Housing
Census, with 5% being older adults, 60 years and over. Most older adults
are in the villages, left without proper care as children are in towns for
employment. In the absence of a policy addressing the needs of older adults,
there is weak support for families caring for older adults and no frameworks
for preventing discrimination and abuse against older persons.
A
culture still exists of family members providing care and support to older
adults; primarily “because you [an older parent] have taken care of me
to grow teeth, I will take care of you until your teeth fall out” – an
African proverb (Agyenmang, 2021). Riding on this notion of caregiving
as a ‘cultural package’, a family caregiver presented herself as a cheerful
caregiver with a strong self-determination, caring with purpose; and having
moral comfort to care for a mother with dementia.
Faith
in God keeps her strong. She also mirrored challenges like financial constraints,
sporadic visits by home-based care people, misplaced consciousness by
uncles taking advantage of her old mother’s dementia to steal her livestock
and other properties. Her story weaves together important considerations
for policy development.
Webwizard: Arthi kumari