TEHRAN — The elderly constitute 8 percent of the whole population of almost 80 million in Iran and the number is growing, the secretary of the National Council of the Elderly has said.

Out of 31 provinces of the country, 19 are affected by aging population and are on the verge of aging crisis, Farid Barati-Sadeh told Mehr news agency in an interview published on Tuesday. 

“The signs of aging have been detected two decades ago in the country but despite the warnings no one took notice,” he pointed.

This ignorance must be soon compensated by the responsible organizations and it is vital for the NGOs to prepare themselves to defuse this crisis, he noted.

Aging population is a global challenge which usually occurs in developed countries, he said, adding, so we have to learn from other countries experience in dealing with such a problem.

Moreover, he regretted, there are 700,000 patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease (a disease mostly affiliated to the aging population) and sadly surveys indicates that their children are not interested in taking care of them at all.

On the same subject he pointed that one in nine people develop Alzheimer’s in Iran while there is not a single organization in the country which can provide them with consultative, supporting or training services.

The Alzheimer’s Society claims to give coverage to 5,000 patients but this is only confined to Tehran and there aren’t any organizations for these patients in other provinces of Iran, he explained.

MQ/MG