Accra, July 7, GNA - Mr Peter Ala Adjetey, Former Speaker of Parliament, has stressed the need for the public to give much support to the elderly for them to have a sense of belonging in the society. He said in this era many families tended to neglect the aged, who were too weak to cater for themselves.

Mr Ala Adjetey was speaking at the inauguration of the Akrowa Aged-Life Foundation on Thursday under the theme: Hope for the Aged. The Foundation set up by a Ghanaian-Danish Musician based in Denmark works to arrest the decline in the care for the aged and to eliminate the fear, anxiety and pain that often characterized old age. Mr Ala Adjetey said problems associated with old age should be the concern all and thus needed concerted efforts on the part of the family, individual and the State to tackle, adding: "Provision must be put in place to help them in condition of respect, decency and love." Mr Collins Woode, Social Health Officer and founder of the Foundation, said training of personnel at the International Department of Social Health College at Denmark and provision of some basic equipment like ambulances and bed lifters were steps being taken to start the programme.

Mr Richard Larry-Tetteh, National Coordinator of the Foundation, said the economic trends within the current global world had weakened the very structure that supported the aged.

He noted that pensions and social security schemes were participatory, which was only targeted at the formal sector players in Africa to the neglect of the informal sector, which had the chunk of its population being old and unemployed.

Mr Larry-Tetteh said the foundation also had plans to establish "Akrowa Health School", an institution, which would train social health officers to handle issues concerning the aged.