There is no greater job satisfaction than when one’s efforts achieve their goal. It happened to me on reading the great news from the Executive Board of the World Health Organisation (WHO) that what we – myself and 37 other government representatives – had proposed only two weeks earlier, had been taken up for the plenary session early next year.
On 30 May, a Draft Decision, backed by 38 member states including Malta, urging the WHO to take action on dementia, was adopted by a meeting of the organisation’s Executive Board. This paves the way for the Draft Global Action Plan on a public health response to dementia for discussion at the 70th World Health Assembly meeting in 2017 and is a clear signal to the WHO to act on dementia.
Acknowledging our efforts
The decision strengthens our insistence that the world body takes immediate and urgent action on dementia which is fast affecting many more people. It also acknowledges our hard work in this field locally, encouraging us to add more impetus to implementing our policies and strategies. It is on this basis that we do not hesitate to appeal for global action to be taken.
Our National Dementia Strategy sets out a work programme to enhance the quality of life of individuals with dementia within the community and to provide assistance to their care-givers and family members. We embarked on implementing a number of intervention streams in different priority areas ranging from educational campaigns that enhance our awareness and understanding of dementia to earlier diagnosis, workforce development, better management and evaluation techniques and more in-depth academic research. A dementia-friendly version is also available, in print form, in order to encourage people with dementia and their immediate family or carers to participate more fully in decisions that affect their lives.
From needs to rights
We have also moved away from the conventional idea of providing assistance in the form of philanthropic help, and have taken major steps – through specific laws and standards – to establish the modern commitment that our older people have their own rights, which they deserve to enjoy in full human dignity.
Soon after taking office, this Labour government moved on from the concept and attitude of merely caring for the elderly to a strategy of Active Ageing launched in November 2013. We premised our policy upon three major themes: active participation in the labour market, social participation in the community and independent living. These themes are aimed at transforming society’s perception of ageing from one of dependency to one of active ageing, which requires a paradigm shift that enables independence and dignity with advancing age.
All along I have emphasised the importance of the best quality in all the services we provide in both the elderly and the disability sectors. We have introduced the Minimum Standards for Care Homes for Older People and have just finalised the enforcing legislation which is ready for the consultation process and subsequent tabling in Parliament.
Guest speaker in Bratislava
On Friday I had the honour of speaking about all the measures that Malta is taking with regard to older people and those with disability, as a guest speaker at the graduation ceremony of the St Elizabeth University of Health and Social Work in Bratislava, Slovakia. During my speech to the academics, students and relatives who packed the hall, I referred to the importance we attach to the standard of quality in all the services we provide within these two important sectors. Great interest was expressed in our endeavours, policies and strategies by those present and the University expressed its wish to collaborate with us to further its outlook with regard to social well being.
It was indeed a great honour for me personally and for our government that the University’s senate presented me with its highest award – the St Elizabeth Gold Medal – in recognition of Malta’s constant work to promote awareness and the need for urgent action in respect of vulnerable people.
This event followed talks with State Secretary for Employment and Social Affairs Dr Branislav Ondruš, the Minister for Education, Science Research and Sport Peter Plavcan and various other officials of the Slovakian Government engaged in the elderly and people with disability sector. Visits to centres for the elderly and those with disability also proved useful to our own endeavours to strengthen the services we are providing in both fields, as did meeting up again with Professor Michal Novak who is a researcher into Alzheimer’s Disease.
Accessible beaches for all
In the last week we have seen the installation of the first wooden pathways at Mellieħa Bay for wheelchair users. Similar structures are planned for other beaches around both islands. This initiative had long been planned by my Secretariat and the National Commission for People with Disabilities, and was finally taken up by the Malta Tourism Authority. It will enable those with a mobility impairment to go these beaches with their own wheelchair and move from the parking space onto the beach and into the sea.
I did, in fact, announce this and many other measures last Tuesday in Parliament and also listed my Secretariat’s plans, with the full cooperation of the Tourism Ministry, the MTA, KNDP and other entities, to ensure full accessibility to all public places. Apart from these beach pathways, we plan to install special hoists that will provide access to someone with a disability to go down into the sea and come back ashore. These hoists are battery-operated and made specifically to fit into a seaside environment.
We plan to start with two such hoists and eventually provide more of them to serve other beaches. Some amphibious wheelchairs, which are already available on various beaches, can move about on the sand and also in the sea. We plan to add 15 such chairs in Malta and for the first time in Gozo. In Parliament I have also listed other innovations that are being considered, such as horizontal lifts that enable those with disabilities to sit on a chair that slides into the sea and back independently.
Trained lifeguards are also part of our plans for various beaches in order to assist those with a disability to use such equipment and ensure no vandalism damages them. I trust that people will appreciate our efforts and will in no way obstruct people with disabilities from making use of such devices. At the end of the day, whatever we invest in and implement for these people is done on behalf of society. Acknowledgements and appreciation are always welcome, but what we expect is understanding and cooperation: in real terms these are a tangible expression of a fair society!